


Might Be A Sinner, Might Be A Saint

by rhodee



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, BAMF Loki (Marvel), BAMF Tony Stark, Eventual Happy Ending, Extremis (Marvel), Gram, Hydra (Marvel), In a way, Infinity Gems, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Loki And His Damn Tesseract, M/M, Mind Control, Miscommunication, Outer Space, Partner Betrayal, Secret Relationship, Slow Burn, Teleportation, Temporary Character Death, The Avengers (2012) Compliant, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Takes No Shit, Wanda Maximoff helps a bit, i can't elaborate without spoiling it you see, keyword eventual, like tons of it, not sorry, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:47:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 37,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23755597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodee/pseuds/rhodee
Summary: Bruised, bloody and partially burnt, the life in him embraces death. That is, until he wakes up to the roar of the Hulk - in New York.In which Tony gets the chance to do it all over again, but this time he doesn’t hold back.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Loki/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Comments: 556
Kudos: 2139
Collections: Waiting For Updates - Marvel, Waiting for updates, tony stark & soul travel





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> This is what you get when I pull an all-nighter to read through every story in the 'not team Cap friendly' tag. Also, Infinity War Saga needed a lot of fixing - starting with the wrongful death of my favourite God of Mischief. ;)  
> ALSO, because TONY BEEPIN STARK NEEDS THE APPRECIATION HE DESERVES.

The sky is too blue and too bright.

“ _What the hell?"_ Tony can’t hold back his words as he catches sight of three familiar faces peering down at him. “What just happened?” Steve looks _young,_ and Thor’s beard is back to a light scruff, and- there’s the _Hulk._ Not Bruce, not the incongruous combination of both that called itself Professor Hulk, but the all-out-green, _raging_ Hulk. Steve looks up in an expression of incredulity, and Tony follows, registering the crumbling skyscrapers, and it’s a scene that looks _too familiar._

“We won,” Steve says, almost breathing out the words, and those words confirm Tony’s suspicion in a _chilling_ wave.

What the _hell?_

New York. 

_2012?_

_Fuck. New York._

The attack that planted its roots in Tony’s mind and inconveniently sprouted itself in the form of nightmares and panic attacks. Therapy had helped, but being back to the scene of the crime, so to speak, isn’t really helping with the sudden twisting of his gut. Tony might puke. All over Rogers, preferably. 

It takes him a good few minutes to stand up, his dead suit only making every movement a hundred times harder. He’s vaguely aware of the lack of pain running through the right side of his body as the Hulk hoists him up and Tony finds himself pressed against the Big Green as he scrambles to the top of Stark Tower. Or what was left of it. 

It feels strangely surreal. He was _dying._ He had _died._ The image of Pepper’s face, her body enclosed in the suit he had built for her, teary-eyed as she consoled him - _We’re gonna be okay._ He remembered Peter, cheeks wet and eyes red, ‘ _We won, Mr. Stark. We won. You did it.’_ F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice. ‘ _Life functions critical.’_ His AI had never sounded so resigned, so absolutely devastated in confirming the news that he himself knew. There was the _burn_ of the Infinity Stones stinging into his flesh and Tony had felt his life slipping away, barely able to muster the strength to keep his eyes open. The kid had - ‘ _Tony-’_ \- he had called him _Tony._ Tony had wanted to smile, wanted to shift his lips ever so slightly, but his body remained unresponsive. 

_You can rest now,_ Pepper had said. Tony finally gave in. 

The New York wind is slapping him in the face as the Hulk scaled the side of the building - and it feels too real. Is this the 'life flashing before his eyes' moment? Or did he visualize some sick, twisted dream in all of 10 seconds that he was up in space? 

Loki had just started coming to his senses, crawling out of the hole that the Hulk had so graciously smashed him in, when Tony and the Hulk reached the roof. Steve had hitched a ride upstairs with Thor, and- _Rogers,_ not _Steve,_ his mind corrects in a sudden afterthought. They’re not friends, never had been. 

_"_ _We’ll lose,”_ Tony had said, once upon a time, and Steve - _Rogers -_ had responded in his All-American way, " _Then we’ll do that together.”_

The word is toxin in his brain, because when had that _ever_ happened? There was no _together_ during Ultron, when Rogers welcomed the Maximoffs into the team with open arms, there was no _together_ during their fight in Germany, there was no _together_ in Siberia when Tony was left for dead, no _together_ when Thanos snapped and wiped out half the universe, no _together_ when Tony was stranded in the black void of space, starving and on the verge of _death._ They only came together during the final battle with Thanos, but it was only Tony who lost. His daughter, his wife, his best friend, the kid... his _life._

He’s pulled out of his thoughts when he makes eye-contact with Romanoff, who gives him a firm _good-job_ nod. There’s respect in the small movement, and Tony suddenly feels his heart swell. Romanoff had sacrificed her life for the Soul Stone. The spy who had always been out to save her own skin had willingly fallen to her death, and Tony feels guilt wash over him because she didn’t even _get a funeral._ The team was her _family,_ and they had spared her no second thought before the fight with Thanos. 

Tony cracks a small smile in response to her, and the team heads inside to where Loki is still struggling to get himself upright. Tony remembers Bruce’s words - _‘He sent Loki. The attack on New York. That's him.’ -_ back when he saw his friend after ages and Strange had pulled him out of a nice morning stroll with Pepper. It suddenly seems so long ago. But - was it, though? Was it _long ago?_ Or is it something yet to happen? He still can’t figure out how he’s ended up here, but there’s a small feeling inside him that shifts the blame to the Time Stone. Maybe it had done its job, and _more._ But most importantly- 

_The attack on New York was Thanos._

Thor had said Loki _changed_ , that it was the first time in a long time that they had fought like brothers to save the people of Asgard. It was the first time Thor _hoped_ for a new beginning with his brother. Loki had even given up an Infinity Stone to save Thor’s life, and there was heavy guilt within the God of Thunder when he had admitted that if Loki had refused, if Loki had let Thor _die_ , Thanos would never have succeeded. That if Loki had let Thor die, Thanos wouldn’t have choked the life out of him. 

In a moment of sudden revelation, Tony realizes that Loki has always been on their side - albeit misplaced priorities - and that he's had always been plotting _against_ Thanos. Loki’s _clever -_ insanely so - and with his magical abilities and knowledge of Thanos, he’s the strongest ally Tony could get. Tony needs to tell Loki, has to tell the god that Tony _knows_ what’s happening. Or what _will_ happen. (He hasn’t figured the past/future tense out yet) 

He knows what Loki will say approximately one second before he says it. 

“If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now,” There’s not a flicker of worry in the god’s face as the words drawl out of his mouth, and Tony _really_ should have noticed that the first time around. He waits until Loki’s eyes land on Tony, and there’s that brief second of eye contact that Tony uses to mouth a word. 

A single word was all Tony needed. The god’s eyes widened ever so slightly, barely visible if Tony hadn’t been looking for the slightest movement in Loki’s face. 

Sharp green eyes are focused on Tony, who’s trying his best to keep his face impassive. And then, an all too familiar voice sounded inside his head: 

' _How do you know that name?'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll just clarify a few things to make it easier:  
> a) There might be a bit of a confusion because Tony's going back and forth with the present and the past (by past, i mean future, by that i mean everything till endgame) so there will be quite a few callbacks to moments, dialogues or interactions which took place between Iron Man 3 and Endgame. Don't worry though, this back-and-forth will decrease as we go ahead with the chapters  
> b) Since we didn't really get to see the whole bandwidth of Loki's powers, I'm gonna try pulling more of them into this story, so all the powers you see him exhibiting are exclusively from Wikipedia, hehe  
> c) Naturally, things will be explained as we go along, but don't hesitate to ask questions just in case there may be something I haven't thought about!  
> d) I don't remember what the outside world looks like anymore, it's a pressing concern.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki breaks free - with or without Tony's help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, the response to the first chapter was so unexpected - thank you SO MUCH! Annnnnd, omg, the comments! I loved reading your thoughts, and I'll reply as soon as I can :D  
> Another chapter, because when I have something as important as my dissertation to work on, the last thing I'll do is what I'm supposed to, hehe.

In hindsight, Tony should have known Loki would not have a normal reaction to the name. 

Loki’s voice in his head was an action _too_ close to comfort. Memories of Maximoff using his mind like a toy brought on a surge of panic that manifested itself in a shaky jerk of his body. It would have probably gone unnoticed, except for the fact that his sharp intake of breath caught the attention of everyone in the room. 

“Tony-?” Rogers starts, and Tony can literally _hear_ the frown that’s formed on the Captain’s face, hear thoughts whizzing through the Captain's brain in varying modes of disappointment reserved only for Tony's actions. He can't help but read between-the-lines of _everything_ Rogers does or says. Something _must_ have gone wrong, _somewhere,_ and it would be better for Tony the sooner he figures it out. ' _You may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.'_ \- or maybe he was too late. 

“M’fine,” Tony dismisses the concern, eyes still on Loki. “It's my suit.” They seem to take him at his word as they move to bind Loki with some Asgardian shackles that were on Thor’s person. Tony moves aside with the intention of removing the suit when Loki speaks again. 

_'Is telepathy not an area of comfort, Stark?'_

Tony shoots a glare in response, which gets cut off by Barton walking past. 

_'Apologies. I’m afraid there’s no other way unless you wish your team to be privy of our conversation.'_ There's a pause as Thor brings Loki up to his feet. ' _Now_ , _I am asking you again, how do you know his name?'_

Loki only gets a blank stare in response. He rolls his eyes, and continues: 

_'To respond, do so in your mind.'_

‘I know you’re under his control. Or were. So, as of this exact moment, you're my best bet against him. But most importantly, I’m getting you out of here, because either I’m from the future, or I had the craziest dream of my life. I think the first one makes more sense considering I know about Thanos’ hold on you-’ -Loki’s expression slightly wavers. ‘And about him collecting the Infinity Stones and wiping out half the universe.’ Tony pauses, taking in Loki’s disturbed expression, and realizing that he now has an edge over the god, continues with the confidence of Tony Stark: genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.

‘That’s what I thought. Well, back to our escape plan. I can get those shackles off of you, but we’ll need at least a few minutes alone. Maybe use some of your magic for that, I don’t mind. And another concern, don’t mess around in my mind yeah? Been there, done that - _not_ a fan. Well, in _this_ timeline, I haven’t actually ‘been there’, so to speak-’

_'Stark. Cease your rambling. This is a conversation, not a thought process inside your head. I have a plan, and I’d suggest you keep my pace. And for Norns’ sake, don’t attract attention to yourself - as much as you’d love to.'_

The Avengers are still around, Bruce thankfully shrunken to human-size, with the added company of a few SHIELD agents, which is why Tony chooses against looking like an idiot and resists the smile creeping up on his face. He fails miserably, turning around to hide it from view as he places the Mark VII inside the metal chamber. A low hum emits from the chamber as it takes the suit down to his workshop. 

Loki’s eyes are following him as Tony joins the group waiting for the elevator - which doesn’t unnerve Tony at all, nope. He’s not concerned about Loki’s plan of action, definitely not pushing the worry back down when it’s dying to make itself show on his face. 

The elevator doors slide open, and one by one, they enter. Tony’s the last one, and in front of him Thor has a tight grip on Loki - when, all of a sudden, Loki just stops. 

Thor tugs at him, unconsciously at first, but a frown crosses his face when he realizes Loki’s refusing to budge. Thor pulls again and, _man, can Loki stand his ground,_ there’s a low growl of “Loki” escaping Thor’s lips when all of their eyes flash green. Tony saw Thor’s eyes flash clear as day, the others were mostly from the corner of his eye. The flash was so brief, Tony might have actually missed it had he blinked. It takes him an embarrassing second to put two and two together and realize that Loki just pulled a stunt. Loki turns around, a dangerous glint in his eye, and Tony nearly fears for his life until Loki speaks. 

“Now, if you would be so kind.” The god holds up his hands, bound by the shackles. Tony’s about to reach for it when Loki just pulls his hands apart in a brisk movement, breaking the shackles like they were made of paper. Tony keeps his expression neutral, but there are warnings of flashing red lights in his head. Maybe Tony was right to fear his life. Loki simply smiles. So much for Tony’s ‘ _I_ _can get those shackles off of you.’_

“If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so.” He casts a swift glance behind him. “There is an illusion in place, and it will remain until five miles from here. I shall await your return here.” He finishes, breezing past Tony. _Great_. Loki must have had the laugh of his life when Tony said he’ll help Loki escape. 

“Should I be worried about them?” Tony asks, turning as he jerks a thumb towards the team in the elevator. They’re all standing in rigid stances, blank-faced and staring straight ahead. It’s a little disconcerting. 

“You could, but it wouldn’t do you any good.” Loki doesn’t even have the courtesy to turn around and face Tony while speaking. Instead, the god walks around the penthouse, looking around and grazing his fingers against every surface within reach. 

“Okay. I’m smart, but dumb it down for me.” 

“I’ve only hypnotized them. They’ll be fine in a minute.” Loki responds coolly, _still facing away_. 

“Right.” Tony breathes out in what he can only hope was half as dramatic as the charade Loki was currently pulling. He spends another second scrutinizing Loki wandering around his penthouse before he gets into the elevator, where the _unbelievably realistic_ Loki illusion has the audacity to seem pleased by Tony’s proximity. He casts a wary glance to the illusion before pressing the button for the ground floor. 

The Avengers more or less come alive halfway down. 

It takes him his 40 years of experience - or is it 50? Considering the future and all that? - of lying through his teeth, and another thirty minutes, to finally rid himself of the Avengers. Loki - the illusion Loki - was being taken to Asgard by Thor, and Rogers had tried to get Tony to come with the excuse of being there for a soldier’s farewell. 

Tony shook Thor’s hand, gave him a pat on the back and wished him good luck for his journey. 

He doesn’t spare Rogers a second glance, but also doesn’t miss the sound of disapproval from the guy. 

As soon as the elevator doors closed, Tony nearly slaps himself for not remembering this sooner. 

“J?” He asks, looking up at the camera. 

“ ** _Yes, sir?_ ** _”_ His AI replies, and Tony nearly _cries_ at the voice of his long-lost AI. In the midst of all the Loki situation, it had completely slipped his mind that he was in a time where _JARVIS_ was here. As much as Vision had tried, it was never the same. Sensing the heavy silence, there’s an added _“_ **_Is something wrong?_** _"_

 **“** Just good to hear your voice, bud.” Tony shrugs it off, putting his hand up to pat the doors of the elevator as if he’s patting JARVIS himself. 

“ ** _Careful, sir. One might think you’re getting attached._ **” Tony laughs in response, the comfort and familiarity of his AI spreading a wave of warmth inside him. 

“Loki still up there?” 

“ ** _Yes, he is. May I ask why?_ **” 

“Guess we’ll find out,” is all Tony says as the doors slide open. 

Thankfully, his penthouse isn’t absolutely wrecked, so that’s a good sign. It doesn’t take long to find Loki, standing ramrod straight in front of a shattered window and looking out at the city. Same window that Tony was thrown out of.

Same _damn_ window _._

_Bastard._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going through all of Loki's powers that Google has so kindly bestowed upon me, how does ANYBODY underestimate Loki? Like, the man - _god_ \- can do anything, and he doesn't even need anybody's help?  
> He is the _living_ embodiment of 'I don't need no man.' How did MCU fuck this up so bad.  
> Next chapter is a conversation between Tony and Loki, and I've already written it BUT I AM STILL SO EXCITED ABOUT IT. I love my two smartasses.


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's all fine until Thor arrives, because then Loki turns into a piece of shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the amazing responses! Here's a long(ish) chapter, because I wasn't really sure where to cut it so I thought, why not just take it all the way? Ha.  
> Enjoy!

“You should take another step if you want a better view. Speaking from personal experience,” Tony breaks the silence, making sure he’s at least at a safe distance from the god as he does so. Loki responds with what is probably the most graceful snort Tony has ever heard. 

“If your intelligence is only as good as your humor, I worry for Midgard.” The words are spoken with him still facing outside, gaze fixed on something far away. Tony gets the feeling the god is only half interested in their ongoing conversation, so naturally, that has to change.

“There’s already a lot of people worrying about the planet. We call it global warming.” _Hook._ “But you’re probably a little outdated.” _Line._ “Speaking of being up-to-date, how’s Nebula?” _And sinker._

Loki’s shoulders rise with a sharp intake of breath, turning his face just enough for Tony to see his profile and the cold glare that’s being sent his way. There’s a hint of fear lining his face, and it catches Tony off-guard, if only for a moment.

It was a shot in the dark, really. During his time in space with Nebula, she had mentioned a prisoner of Thanos. It was more or less in a comment that she hadn’t put much thought into, merely using it to fill the silence of space, just a “ _I never talked to the prisoners, except for one. He called himself a god-” a scoff. “He looked anything but.”_ The conversation with her had ended there.

“ _How,”_ Loki starts, eyes narrowing into a threat, “do you-” 

“-know that name? Yeah, I heard you the last two times.” A flicker of impatience crosses Loki’s face, and truth be told, it felt pretty great having this advantage over the god. Tony may not be as strong, may not be a telepathic-hypnotist-illusion casting son of a bitch, but he had his brain. And his brain knows things that, judging by Loki’s face, are very important to the god and is the only thing keeping him from being thrown out the window again. 

“You were a prisoner. Did he…” Tony almost doesn’t want to say it, but there was something so familiar about Loki’s expression when Tony brought up Nebula that was digging into his mind. “Did he torture you?” Tony remembers the power of the Mind Stone, the one one that gave Maximoff her abilities. “Did he make you… see things?” 

He catches the way Loki’s steely gaze wavers before his face completely closes off. Devoid of any and all emotion. Tony simply stares until Loki repeats his question again. “Stark, I’m asking you for the last time. _How_ do you know Thanos?” It's clearly an out, and Tony takes it like his life depended on it, because this time there's no suit on-standby to break his fall out of another window.

“I met him. On his home planet - Titan - or what was left of it, anyway. He knew my name.” Tony tries cracking a smile, but the attempt goes in vain. At the time, his feelings were a mixture of confusion and fear, but now that he thinks of it, Tony might have actually posed a threat to the Titan. A _threat_ that Thanos probably kept tabs on. “Then he threw a moon at me. Pulled a few impressive moves myself, until he stabbed me with a part of my _own_ suit. Right here.” He taps his abdomen. “Strange - he's the guy with the Time Stone, you should meet him, by the way - Thanos made Strange choose. My life, or the stone.”

Strange’s voice drifts into his mind - ‘ _if it comes to saving you or the kid or the Time Stone - I will not hesitate to let either of you die.’_

“Strange didn’t have to give up the stone, but he did. And Thanos got away.” Tony had avoided eye-contact with Loki while he spoke, partially afraid of seeing the god’s facial response and coming to terms with the reality of things. That it had _happened,_ and now he’s not the only one who knows about it. Loki’s face reveals nothing, except for the slight frown pulling on his brows. The silence is heavy. 

“I made him bleed.” Tony finally says. The abruptness of it gets a response from Loki. 

“Strange?” 

“No,” Tony shakes his head. "Thanos.” 

_If you can make God bleed, people will cease to believe in him._

Loki raises his eyebrows, and Tony wants to believe Loki is impressed - if only slightly. “It was long overdue.”

“Yeah,” Tony finally breathes out, stealing a glance at Loki when his attention drifted somewhere outside. There's only a partial view of his profile, but looking at him, he can sense Loki’s conflict - probably wondering how much Tony knows, but not wanting to ask outright. There’s a hesitation on his face that Tony didn’t think he’d ever see, especially not on someone like Loki. It doesn’t look like Loki’s liking it, either. As far as they both know, Tony’s the only one with knowledge of the future, even if it’s 10 years, which naturally gives them an advantage over Thanos. 

And, judging by the way Loki just turned to look at him, Tony suddenly gets the feeling he’s a very important asset in Loki’s plan. 

“Where am I in this narrative?” Loki finally asks, his words heavy with the question of his own fate. It’s not a yes or no question, not something Tony can get away by answering and moving on. The question is a loaded gun, and Tony’s response might just be the trigger. 

Tony opens his mouth and- stops. _How can he even answer this?_ Apparently, the hesitation is all Loki needs. There’s a bitter smile pulling at his lips as he looks away. _Fuck fuckfuck._

“You saved Thor’s life.” Tony says - _blurts_ it out - because it was _important_ that Loki knew that. Loki’s eyes settle on him again, the smile wiped off of his face in the blink of an eye. 

“ _Thor?”_ Raw, _pure,_ disdain in the way he spat Thor’s name, which - well - makes sense, actually. For the Loki of this time, anyway. Hadn’t the guy _just_ found out he was adopted? Tony probably should have thought twice before telling the little fact about saving Thor’s life. But it _was_ the better fact out of the two. 

“Thanos was killing him using the Power Stone, and you gave him the Tesseract in exchange for saving your brother’s life.” 

“And?” Loki’s voice is dangerously calm. Tony’s in the eye of a fucking tornado. 

“He left. He had the Space Stone. Didn’t really need you guys, so he left you in space.” 

“How many casualties?” The question is straight to the point, and it doesn’t really give Tony much of an opportunity to give a vague response. Apparently, the god only likes beating around the bush when he’s the one beating. 

“Don’t know. A lot of your people were killed on Asgard - something about your father’s first-born? I don’t know - Thor was never clear about it. But she destroyed Asgard, and the rest of you were making your way to Earth when Thanos arrived. One of your magic dudes sent Bruce down to Earth using the Bifrost before Thanos could get to him. He was the first one to warn us.”

“The Beast,” Loki says, making the connection with Bruce. “Why was the Beast with us? And why did Heimdall send him to Earth instead of Thor, or me, even?” 

“Ah, well. You’re not so much of a friendly here, and Thor was in a compromised position.” It gets him a frown from Loki, so Tony switches tactics. “For what it’s worth, that timeline ceased to exist the moment you entered my brain. Here, we have the upper-hand, and at least a ten-year head-start on the grape. You and your Tesseract will live a long and happy life.” 

Loki hums in response, not bothering with a constructed reply, as he walks along the window walls and taking in the sight of the partially demolished city. There’s a brief glance up at the sky, and then: “Maybe the spell turned out stronger than I intended.” 

“What?” 

There’s a bored look on Loki’s face as he turns around, and it makes Tony feel like he’s in the bottom half of Loki’s respect-chat. “My illusion, Stark. It must somehow still be holding, else Thor would have returned in all his rage and glory.” Tony’s just about to respond when a beam of bright blue light past Loki’s shoulder catches his attention. There’s a silhouette of a figure on his balcony, and going with the way Loki takes only a second to glance back and roll his eyes, Tony makes a pretty good guess on who it is. 

Thor is schooling an expression of pure rage as he storms into the penthouse, Mjolnir in one hand and the Tesseract cylinder in the other. It takes him quite a bit of effort to stand his ground and keep up his layer of confidence as the God of Thunder marches towards Tony, furious blue eyes frantically glancing in every direction and- _weirdly -_ glazing right past Loki. “ _Where is he?!”_

“He’s-” Tony starts, but catches the light shake of Loki’s head and _oh._ “Who?” 

Tony’s glance at Loki probably wasn’t as subtle as he thought it was, because Thor follows his gaze, _looks straight at where Loki’s standing - grinning! -_ and turns back around with eyebrows pulled into frustration. He takes another step forward, using his height as an advantage to tower over Tony. “This is not the time for your games, Stark. Where is my _brother?_

“Hey. Do you mind? You’re all up in my space here.” Tony waves his hand in the almost non-existent space between them. When Tony continues to stare at him expectantly, Thor finally takes a step back, and the inventor continues speaking. “He’s not here, and if you’re planning to run around throwing the blame, maybe check with the person he was last seen with.” 

Thor’s slightly taken aback at the shift of blame, and after a moment of reconsideration, he speaks again. “My apologies, Man of Iron. Loki had cast a rather impressive illusion of himself that replaced him in my hold. It left me to believe that he escaped before I shackled him.” 

“Why not after?” Tony asks, watching as Loki graciously moves to his couch and leans against it. He’s also cocky enough to strike a pose, crossing one foot over the other as he pulls up a hand to admire his nails. 

“Nay, it would have been an impossible feat. The shackles were made by the Dwarves of Nidavellir.” Thor says, (meanwhile, Loki brings a hand up to his face in mock surprise) adding a tinge of pride to the last few words that completely flew out of Tony’s head. It must have been obvious on his face, because Thor explains, slightly awkward now: “They are the most skilled blacksmiths in all the realms, and the shackles are imbued with magic dampeners.” 

“Magic dampeners,” Tony repeats as Loki raises his eyebrows in a surprised approval. It might have looked legit if it weren’t for the smirk plastered across his face. 

“Yes,” Thor confirms, but there’s a slight frown knitted into his brows. Probably wondering why the couch seems to be Tony’s center of attention. 

With the promise of joining Thor at the helicarrier - _‘Do not underestimate my brother, Stark. We need to find him before he wreaks havoc again’_ which had earned an eye-roll from Loki - Tony finally shooed the Thunder God away from the penthouse. 

“He didn’t see you.” The words don’t get any form of response from Loki save for a raised eyebrow. Tony stares back, arms folded across his chest. 

“Astute observation, Stark.” When Tony doesn’t move, merely continuing to hold his position, Loki gives an insufferable sigh and continues, “I do have a few good tricks up my sleeve. The fact you think otherwise is just mocking my title of Trickster God.” 

“Right then, m’lord,” Tony says, only slightly worried about the so-called ‘tricks up my sleeve’ line, as he claps his hands and starts walking backwards to his elevator. “You might have to pardon me, since your brother requires my assistance in finding Santa’s missing reindeer.” 

Loki’s mouth twitches, and Tony’s unsure whether it was borne out of amusement or offense. He turns around as he approaches the elevator, when Loki speaks from behind him. “Bring me the Tesseract.” 

“Funny,” comes the retorted reply as Tony throws his head back ever so slightly. When the elevator reaches and Tony gets in, Loki’s still standing by the couch, one hand against his hip. Expectant.

“Anything else? Some bread? Eggs?” Tony asks, and as the elevator doors close, he can’t help but notice how Loki’s face wrinkles in confusion at the question, making Tony wonder if Loki was actually serious about the Tesseract. 

It felt strangely surreal going back to the tower’s workshop - the memory of it from 6 years ago doesn’t quite bring it to justice as he stands just short of the glass doors. He can see his suits lined up at the far end of the lab, and there’s a rush of pride at how much the Iron Man suits have developed through the years. But right now, with whatever the Infinity Stones had done to send him back in time - shrapnel and all - Tony could just skip to the Mark 85. Make it _better_ even, make it capable enough to hold the power of the Infinity Stones without injuring him. Not that he’s too keen on going through the whole debacle of taking six Infinity Stones into his possession, but there’s no saying how much Tony has affected the timeline, or _will_ affect the timeline. Every second that he’s caused in Thor, Loki and Tesseract being here, instead of Asgard, is probably sending ripples through the space time continuum. 

And when Thanos comes - _which he definitely will_ \- Earth will need all hands on deck, and that is inclusive of the Ex-Avengers. (or the to-be-Ex-Avengers?) But… Tony doesn’t necessarily have to be friendly with them. Last time around, he didn’t _know_ what was coming, he’d only seen the mass of Chitauri and ships through the wormhole, and he was right to be scared. Because it was proof that there are threats from all over the universe that he hadn’t even _considered_. 

‘ _That up there, that’s the endgame.’_

His nightmares were on the brink of reality, and his constant bouts of panic attacks were only partially neutralized with the comfort of having a _team_ to fight with, having his _suits,_ and wasn’t that what the Ultron program was for? The program, with his Iron Legion, was going to be _the_ suit of armor around the world. 

So much for that. 

Tony doesn’t owe them anything. Not anymore. They had their chance - 10 _years_ of it - and they lost it. It’s time for Tony Stark to make some changes now. 

“ ** _Sir?_ ** ” JARVIS’ voice sounds through the workshop, and it almost sounds hesitant. There’s a question coming, and Tony gets the feeling he knows what it’ll be about. “ _ **I**_ ** _f I may ask, and this is merely an interpretation of your conversation with Loki, but am I right to assume that you are from another time?_ **” 

“Yep,” Tony says, making his way to the Mark suits. It’s a conversation he needs to have with JARVIS, and he will, except he has to get to the helicarrier before a certain god comes thundering down again. 

“ ** _And what about the Sir of this time?_ **” The question makes Tony stop in his tracks, not because of the words, exactly, but because of the underlying threat that was lined in the words. JARVIS is more or less accusing Tony of being an impostor. 

“Woah, J. Relax.” He shoots a look at one of JARVIS’ cameras. “It’s still me. Just thrown back ten years in the past after a very dignified death from six Infinity Stones. Do a body scan if you’d like.” He pauses, dwelling on the last sentence, and then adds, “Actually. Please do a body scan. Not a fan of having my internal structure messed around with because of a few stones.” 

There’s a silence as he reaches his suits, probably JARVIS running his scans. Tony has just finished suiting up when JARVIS speaks. 

“ ** _Your internal makeup is the same as yesterday, including the positioning of the shrapnel._** ” The words feel like a soothing balm… until “ ** _However, there_** **are** ** _a few_** **_traces of some unknown elements. They are of similar structures, but they emit different energies - six in total. I’m afraid I am not able to advance further with the findings._** ” 

“Eh, that’s probably residue.” Tony flips on his mask, and then a thought strikes him. “Oh and, speaking of shrapnel, be a dear and look up A.I.M, would ya?” 

“ ** _Yes, sir._ **” 

“And get me the contact details for Maya Hansen. I think a conversation is long overdue.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony purposely left out something very important when discussing Thanos, and I'm just waiting for it to come back and bite him in the ass. :)  
> And I just wanted to point this out: 2012 Thor wasn't as friendly with Tony considering they just met, and it was purely a professional (if you can call it that) relationship so there really wasn't much of a base for bantering and all that. But obviously, they'll get closer as the story continues. Even Loki's being a little guarded right now because he knows that Tony knows things, and he doesn't really know the extent of Tony's knowledge, so it takes him a while to come around to being the mischievous lil fucker that he is, hehe. :D  
> Alsooo, just so that you guys don't get confused, the Mandarin "suicide bombings" started late 2011-early 2012. And since the New York invasion took place in May, we can assume the Extremis project is already up and running!  
> It's entirely possible that I wrote some sentences without giving any context (because in my mind, it's already obvious, right?) sooo, if you have any questions, or if you're confused about something, ask away!


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers are on Loki duty. Tony doesn't take it seriously until he's quite literally forced to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the lovely comments! Here's another chapter - treat thy self! :D

Iron Man lands on the helicarrier approximately 30 minutes after Thor’s return to Earth. Apparently, punctuality is an issue. Not that it ever wasn’t, but considering the recent turn of events, it rubbed Tony the wrong way. 

“Whenever you’re ready, Stark.” The pointed sarcasm is dripping from Fury’s words as Tony walks into the conference room - where Thor, Bruce, Romanoff, Barton and Rogers were already seated. On a last minute change of mind, Tony had changed out of his Black Sabbath t-shirt and fitted himself with a navy blue raglan - solely for appearances’ sake - which Fury was attentive enough to notice, thus the jab about being ready. 

Might as well make the most of it. 

“Yeah, gimme a few minutes.” Tony says in all casualness, taking a seat and leaning back as he pulls out his phone to shoot a text to JARVIS. Fury’s face contorts in annoyance, and Tony takes his own sweet time typing into his phone. 

To J: _Keep an eye out on Loki. Tell him he can help himself to whatever - but let’s not have him abuse that free will, yeah?_

He’s just about to send it, when someone speaks from across him. 

“We gave you 30 minutes. The least you could do is respect ours.” And just to be petty, Tony takes the time to add a ‘ _love you, J’_ to the text and then sends it, looking up to face annoyed blue eyes.

“Why do you think I’m here, Cap?” 

“Boys,” Romanoff interrupts in a tone of reproval, and there’s a second where both of them turn to look at her, before Thor speaks. His voice easily dissipates any tension in the room. 

“We need to find my brother.” 

“And we _will, ”_ Fury finally finds his words, giving Thor a pointed look with his one good eye. “Our people are looking into the surveillance footage from Stark Tower to Central Park, where you left with Loki.” 

“Stark Tower?” Tony repeats, masking his worry with a smug raise of his brow. “You have surveillance in my tower?” 

“Outside it.” Fury corrects, looking only slightly pleased with the clarification as he turns to Tony. “We need you to give access to footage from your penthouse.” It was a good move from Fury, taking an in into their conversation to promise Thor that they will find Loki, only to throw Tony under the bus, because there’s no way SHIELD is getting access to his tower footage. Fury knew that. 

“I’ll have JARVIS look into them,” is all Tony says. He pulls out his phone to shoot another text. 

To J: _SHIELD looking into footage from outside the tower to Central Park. Plant something subtle a few blocks away. Not too obvious - can’t taint the reputation of our dear trickster._

“We can do it.” Fury presses, but it lacks conviction. He’s clearly enjoying this. From the corner of his eye, Tony can see Thor frowning.

“So can JARVIS.” Tony shoots without missing a beat, and then adds, “A hundred times better, actually.” His phone sounds a beep, and Tony unlocks it. There’s a three second video from JARVIS, and Tony can’t help the low whistle escaping his mouth. “Would you look at that?” 

“Are you going to cooperate with us?” He’s impatient now, caused in realization of his failed ploy. 

“Depends. Is Miss Rushman still taking notes on me?” He looks up from his phone at Fury, eyebrows raised. There’s a moment of locked eye-contact when someone speaks into Fury’s earpiece. The man immediately straightens, replying with a ‘send it over,’ as he switches on the TV screen. 

A few seconds later, a familiar video starts playing. Right as Thor gets Loki out of the black SUV, there’s a small glitch in the footage. It was barely identifiable, but there was ¼ of a second when Loki supposedly vanished and came back the next moment. Then the footage continues as normal, Romanoff getting out from the front seat, as Barton, Rogers and Bruce exit from the SUV behind them. The footage plays another three times until Tony decides it’s him for him to speak.

“How long did your ‘people’ take to get this, again? ‘Cause I told JARVIS to check it out two minutes ago, and look at what he sent just a few seconds before your people did.” Tony projects the video on his phone to the screen, displaying a three second footage of the same video. There’s a sour look on Fury’s face that Tony would give anything to get framed. He doesn’t get to dwell on it though, because Thor speaks, and everyone’s attention snaps to him.

“We need to find him,” Thor stands up, Mjolnir gripped tight in his hand. 

“Yes, you do.” Tony agrees, standing up as well. He looks around, sighs, and says, “Well. This has been fun. I hope you find him before he ‘wreaks havoc’ and all that.” He uses his fingers to quote Thor’s words and turns to walk away when...

“And where do _you_ think you’re going?” Fury asks, doing tremendously well in his role of an angry parent. _Huh. Nick Fury as a parent._ Probably another thing Tony wouldn’t mind paying to see. Tony turns around and blinks, just once.

“Back.” He says, because wasn't that obvious? 

They continue staring at him. Expectant. With an exaggerated sigh, Tony continues. “I’m sorry, have we forgotten about me taking a nuclear missile up into space? Destroyed an alien army? Saved New York? Almost didn’t come back to Earth?” He gives a pointed look to Romanoff at the last bit, whose gaze doesn’t even waver. Beside her, Barton lets out a snort. “C’mon, I’m an old man. I need a time-out. High blood pressure,” a shake of his head, “not good for my heart.”

“Tony-” Bruce starts, but Fury cuts him off.

“We need Iron Man. We don’t know the extent of Loki’s capabilities, and he sure as hell ain’t gonna be happy about losing to a bunch of dressed-up humans. He’s bound to reciprocate badly.” 

Tony would think Thor would protest, maybe say something in favor of his brother, but the Thunder God merely nods in agreement. Guess there’s no love lost between them. He wonders when that changes. Thor was quite shaken up after Loki’s death during Ultron, so there’s probably a few more months to mend that broken bond. But for now, he needs a witty reply to Fury’s subtle accusation. 

“Aw, Plisken. That’s sweet. But unless you want to endanger Iron Man’s life for the second time today, you’ll need to make do. I’m sure the rest of the team is capable enough. Well,” He pauses, taking a beat as he feigns a growing thought. “...unless you think that-” 

“We need to work as a team, Tony.” Rogers jumps in, ready for the defense. He doesn’t admit to needing Iron Man, neither does he fall for the accusation of them being weak. Tony isn’t surprised, avoiding the truth of the situation always seemed to be Rogers’ strong suit. "It's our responsibility." 

He might as well get this done with this before the rest of them dives head-first into Rogers’ bandwagon. It’s _way_ too soon for Team Cap. 

“Fine, I get it. You’re useless without me.” Tony waves it off, and then straightens himself as he continues. “Okay, team. We have a loose cannon to catch.” 

“You can stop while you’re ahead, Stark,”

“I didn’t get to where I am by stopping while I’m ahead, Nicholas.” Tony retorts, and shifts his attention to the rest of the team. “What are you waiting for? Suit up. Sorry Cap, stole your line there. Thought I’d see what it felt like.” He pauses, cocks his head in thought, and continues. “Hm. Not that good.” 

“J, Loki still there?” Tony asks as soon as he flies out of the helicarrier.

“ ** _Yes, sir. He’s been looking out the window since you left._ **”

“What’s up with that? Tell him Thanos isn’t due for another five years.” There’s a silence as JARVIS probably conveys the message, and then: “ ** _He’s asking whether you are in possession of the Tesseract._ **” 

“For Gods’ sake,” Tony mutters under his breath. “Put me through to him.” 

“ _It was a yes or no question. Must he be so insistent for a conversation?”_ Loki’s voice comes through. Tony figures the god hadn’t realized the call is active.

“ _Hey!_ I take offense to that.” Tony says, unable to resist the smile pulling at his face. He suddenly wonders what kind of company Loki prefers in Asgard. “In my defense, I didn’t actually think you were serious about the Tesseract. It’s a no from me, by the way. And guess what? You dear brother has put me on Loki duty. Meaning, _I_ have to fly around New York in the pretense of looking for you while you’re ensconcing in my penthouse.”

Rogers’ voice comes through the comms as soon as Tony’s done speaking. “ _Anybody got eyes on Loki?”_ He responds with a negative, and continues flying when he realizes Loki hasn’t responded yet. 

“You still there? We’re wasting my credit.” 

“ ** _Loki has vanished from the premises, sir._** ” 

“ _What?!”_ Tony stops mid-air. “When? Did he even _listen_ to me?"

“ ** _He was kind enough to wait until you were done speaking. He vanished promptly after that._** ” 

_Great._ Now he _really_ was on Loki duty. 

Trying to find Loki in New York was like trying to find an inch of thread in a haystack. From Tony’s limited knowledge of (and interaction with) Loki, he _knows_ that the god can shape-shift. Look, sound and be like a whole other person. And Tony’s the only one who knows that - maybe Thor does too? Wouldn’t he have mentioned it, then? - because he distinctly remembers Loki taking on the form of Captain America the first time around. Remembers seeing it _again_ during their time heist, when the god had mocked Captain America’s All-American-Way. Tony had almost gotten a seizure with how hard he resisted himself from laughing. He decides to give it a shot. 

“Hey, Point Break? Any hidden qualities of Loki we should know about?” 

There’s a grunt from Thor as if he’d hoped nobody would ask that. “ _He can turn himself invisible to any eye, and quite a few times, I have seen him shape-shift into someone else.”_

 _“You have got to be kidding me,"_ Barton deadpans.

“ _I assure you, Hawk, I am not.”_ Thor replies, as if his response would have been of any help. 

There’s quite a bit of cursing through the comms, which Tony conveniently tunes out. “J, did you get Maya Hansen?” 

“ ** _Yes, sir. Would you like me to connect you to her?_ **” 

“Yes, please.” 

The call rings thrice before it’s answered. “ _Hello?_ ” 

“Ah. Miss Hansen! Long time no see. Wasn’t actually sure you’d pick up, but, hey - how’s Extremis? Assuming that’s still a thing?” 

There’s an uncomfortably long silence, and then a low scoff. “ _Tony Stark.”_

“The one, the only. Uh, B-T-W, you didn’t answer my question.” 

“ _1_ _2 years_ ,” is all she says, and yeah, he should have seen that one coming. “ _Why do you suddenly care about Extremis?_ ” 

“Well, your honor, I have reason to believe it’s been causing quite a few explosions around the country. Missing any military veterans?” There’s a distinct sound of another voice in the background, followed by a short muffled conversation, courtesy of Maya probably covering the speaker of her phone. When she re-joins the call, her voice sounds strained.

“ _Mom, I have to go. I’ll come visit in a few days, okay?”_ Tony’s smart enough to take the hint. 

“Okay, _honey bear_ -” He’s barely able to get the words out when Maya hangs up. He’s fairly sure Killian was around, and the fact that Maya tried to conceal her conversation with Tony provided him with just enough hope that she wasn’t completely tainted by Killian. Her plan for Extremis was impressive, even back in 1999, when it was just in its foundation - to _improve_ the human body, to regrow _cells._ It was a dream for military veterans and other amputees, and she had been ecstatic about working on it. So ecstatic and so _willing to do good,_ that she hadn’t even hesitated before picking up the ampule that contained Extremis, hadn’t even hesitated to sacrifice herself if it meant stopping Killian. ‘ _If I die, Killian, what happens to your soldiers? What happens to your product?_ ’ and he had killed her without a second thought. He can’t let that happen this time, and with Maya he can stabilize Extremis and use it to actually do good. 

Maybe in the other timeline, it would have helped Rhodey. 

Maybe in this timeline, it can contain the power of the Infinity Stones. 

The next thing he knew, Fury’s voice is shouting at them through the comms. “ _Loki’s taken the Tesseract! Get back to base right motherfuckin’ now!”_

This day cannot possibly get any worse. 

“ ** _Sir-_ ** ” JARVIS starts to speak, but Tony’s attention is promptly cut off by a much sharper, _louder_ voice that sounded itself in his mind. “ _Stark. I have the Tesseract.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if it's just me, but I really (REALLY) liked Maya's character and this chapter was definitely me consoling myself that she doesn't have to die. God, she was great. I mean - is great. Will be great. Shall always be great. And, most importantly, alive.  
> I'm having a bit too much fun writing the Loki parts oh my god, like I can't even plan what Loki will say or do, it just comes out spontaneously. I love it.  
> Hope you liked it! x :)


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a revelation. Then there's a plan... somewhat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooo, 3.5k words in a single sitting - man, am I proud or am I proud?  
> There's a little bit of awakening from Tony's side :-)

For the second time in the past 20 minutes, Loki successfully makes Tony stop mid-flight. He doesn’t even let any rational thought pass through before his words take over, _“What_ ?! _”_

“ _Watch that blood pressure, Stark. I don’t plan on being responsible for you dropping to your death,”_ Comes Fury’s response through the comms.

‘ _You didn’t seem too keen on assisting me.”_ Loki’s voice follows in his mind soon after. _“Besides, I’m quite experienced in filching._ ’ 

‘Filch- _Okay_ . First, I am not your _assistant._ Even if I _am_ anything, I think the role of guide would suit me better. Or the Oracle. Since I know the future.’ Tony responds, finally continuing his flight back to the helicarrier. He doesn’t understand why he has to, it’s not like Loki’s going to be roaming around the helicarrier with the Tesseract. 

But then again, he probably might be. Just out of spite. 

‘ _Secondly,’_ He continues before Loki can barge in between, ‘you realize the Tesseract can be _tracked_ right? We did it once, we can do it again.” 

_‘Only if it’s in this realm-’_ Loki starts his defence - and god _damn_ how far does this guy’s mind-speak reach? - but Tony beats him to it. 

‘-And _thirdly._ This is _exactly_ what happened the last time. You had the Tesseract, Thanos came, and you gave it up to save Thor’s life. With it in your possession, you’re _literally_ paving the way for him. And how do you know his hold hasn’t completely cleared? What if he’s still influencing your actions? He had his _strongest_ hold on you, and, frankly, I doubt it’s entirely decapitated.’ It’s a reach, he _knows_ that, but he can’t risk history repeating itself. Not with someone like Loki. If there’s even the slightest possibility that Thanos is connected to Loki with more than just his mind… 

“ _I_ _ron Man, what’s your ETA?”_ Fury asks, and Tony promptly ignores it. There’s a bigger matter at hand. 

‘ _S_ _tark.’_ Loki’s voice is tight when he finally speaks. Almost threatening. Suddenly Tony isn’t all that comfortable with Loki in his mind. ‘ _I_ _suggest you abstain from speaking of things you don’t know. As for the Tesseract, my judgement was clouded last time. You needn’t worry about that now.’_

‘Just watchin’ my back.’ He wasn’t interested in digging his grave any further. The flippant remark probably didn’t sit well with Loki, or maybe there might really be a telepathic range, because there’s no reply from the god as Tony lands on the helicarrier. 

“What, did you stop for another dress-change?” Fury says as a form of greeting, stopping his conversation with Hill and Rogers who turn to look at Tony with wary expressions on their face. Thor is somewhere off to the side of the operations bay, chatting with a female SHIELD - occasionally throwing Mjolnir in the air and swiftly catching it. _Showoff._ Romanoff and Barton are a little away, standing over a seated SHIELD employee, watching a video that Tony can’t really make out from the distance. Tony notices everyone except Banner isn’t there. 

“Uh, I’m clearly wearing the same thing. Where’s Bruce?” Tony can’t help but look at Romanoff while mentioning the doctor’s name, which apparently doesn’t go as smoothly as he expected, considering she looks at him the exact same second. There’s a brief second of a scrutinizing eye-contact before Tony finally tears his gaze away. 

“Dr. Banner’s in the lab, tracking the Tesseract.” Fury says, crossing his arms over his chest. It feels like there’s more to the conversation, which Tony’s definitely not interested in being a part of. He’d much rather prefer being in the lab. 

“Great. I’ll-” 

“Before that,” Fury interrupts him mid-sentence. “Why don’t you take a look at the footage?” He motions to where Barton and Romanoff stood, still watching the video. Now that Tony takes a closer look, he realizes it’s of Loki. 

“Okay?” Tony tries to seem unfazed at whatever Fury’s trying to get to. “Would it even make a difference? It’s still gone, right?” 

“Maybe you can be the judge of that.” 

And _that…_ doesn’t sound too good for Tony. 

It starts off fairly normal - as normal as a god teleporting inside a locked room, through _three_ different security systems, one of which Tony had designed himself. There’s not even minimal effort from Loki as he opens the case - equipped with _another_ security system - and pulls out the Tesseract. A sly smile pulls at his lips as he shoots a wink at the camera, and promptly vanishes into thin air. See, that was normal.

What _wasn’t_ normal was the Iron Man figurine placed on top of the metal case. It looks distinctly familiar to Tony.

It gets them to the conclusion that Loki’s sending a message, or even worse, a _threat,_ and Tony’s caught right in the middle of it. ‘ _It was a threat towards Iron Man, which by default makes it a threat towards the Avengers,’_ Steve had said, which was promptly dismissed by Thor who claimed that Loki often relished in trivial pranks that were often taken too seriously. Natasha argues that it’s in their best interest to take the precautionary measures, to which Clint agrees, adding that Loki’s idea of pranks doesn’t necessarily have to be harmless to the intended victim. 

It’s a conversation that somehow revolves around Tony and yet he’s somehow locked out of it. It’s amusing, to say the least. He wonders if it had always been like this: the Avengers and SHIELD trying to make decisions over his head, and if Tony had just rolled over and let them. It wasn’t something he would have noticed the first time around, because he was so consumed with the fact that he had left weapons behind and was _saving_ people instead. And if it meant that he had to sacrifice mundane things - for him at least - like his money and his resources for the greater good, then why would he have hesitated? He gets it now. It had never been about him sacrificing, it was always about him being used - by SHIELD, by the Avengers who had the nerve to consider themselves friends of Tony Stark. 

Romanoff, who had stood by and merely watched as Tony destroyed himself before the palladium poisoning could, wrote a strikingly biased assessment on him and his ‘incapability’ to do good. _Displays compulsive behaviour, prone to self-destructive tendencies, not recommended._

Barton, whose offhand remarks on Tony’s character and actions were more malicious than ‘light hearted banter’ - as he had called it- , constantly using Tony as his personal bowyer and wholly prioritizing himself over any other responsibilities that Tony had. 

Rogers used every opportunity to discredit Tony, _belittle him,_ by bringing up Howard Stark, persistently trying to make Tony feel smaller as he compared him to the great, ambitious man he once knew. 

And Bruce - he thought Bruce was different, that Bruce was a _friend._ After the whole Extremis debacle, Tony sought out a friend he could talk to - because that’s what everyone says, right? Go speak to someone, go talk to someone - _anyone. Even a friend._ And Bruce had just… dozed off. 

“ _I’m not a therapist, it’s not my training,”_ Bruce had said. 

“ _So?”_ Tony asked, caught slightly off-guard at Bruce’s explanation, but more _confused_ that Bruce assumed Tony was _using_ him as a therapist instead of seeking comfort in a friend. He didn’t have the _temperament,_ he had added. 

And that was the first time Tony had felt wholly and completely isolated from his team. He didn’t realize it until today that it had always been a work in progress by the Avengers. It’s almost bittersweet, now that he thinks of it. 

“Something funny, Stark?” Fury’s voice snaps him out of his thoughts. The Avengers had seemingly stopped their debate, now looking at Tony with expressions that ranged from curiosity to suspicion. 

“Actually, yeah - I just remembered I have a prior commitment.” Tony replies easily, not bothering to elaborate any further as he increases the distance between them. Behind him, Romanoff calls out. 

“What could be more important than this, Stark?” Her tone is almost accusing, and Tony doesn’t even bother a backward glance. 

“Oh, Miss Romanoff, I don’t think you’ll like my answer.” 

“J, you got eyes on Loki?” Tony asks as he shoots out of the helicarrier. 

**_“Yes, sir. He is in the penthouse. The Tesseract is on your couch.”_ **

“Fuckin’ fantastic. What’s he doing?” 

**_“Still looking out the window.”_ **

“Think he’s planning on throwing me out the window again?”

**_“Knowing you, it seems plausible.”_ **

“That,” Tony says in mock offense, “was uncalled for. But you still got my back right? Just in case he does?” 

**_“Always, sir.”_ **

Loki doesn’t even bat an eye as Iron Man flies in through the broken window, purposely missing him by an inch. The god stance is disturbingly unperturbed as Tony gets out of his suit, only watching in amusement. There’s the bright glow of the Tesseract coming from the couch on his left which catches Tony’s attention. It’s just placed there, like how one would place a television remote or a phone without giving it a second thought. _How does Loki’s brain even function?_

“You certainly took your time,” is all Loki says, arms clasped behind his back. It’s a posture that screams confidence and superiority, and it’s one that Tony often depends on when dealing with businessmen. 

“Got a little held up. Where’d you get that figurine, by the way?” Loki’s mouth parts into a grin at the question, a soft ‘ _ah_ ’ escaping his lips. 

“There may have been a similar figurine on your bar counter...” The smile is wicked as he trails off, and Tony resists the urge to face-palm. He _knew_ it had looked somewhat familiar. 

He watches as Loki moves to the couch, his movements almost fluid as he takes the Tesseract in his hand. The bright blue is illuminating the god’s face, admiration seeping into his face. There’s a second of Loki just looking at the Tesseract before his gaze finally snaps his gaze to Tony. 

“Now that you have the Tesseract, how do you intend on fighting Thanos?” 

“Okay, I have to clear this out. I never _asked_ for the Tesseract. You,” -he points at said person, “ _stole_ it. For your _self.”_

“Semantics,” Loki waves away the accusation. “However you phrase it, we still have the Tesseract. Now, you surely have a plan, do you not?” Loki’s eyes narrow ever so slightly, and it makes Tony think twice - _thrice -_ before answering. 

“Yeah, _duh_.” Is all he can come up with. Loki purses his lips in annoyance. He sets the Tesseract down, and turns to face Tony fully.

“Stark. I’m afraid you don’t understand the _urgency_ of this situation.” Loki starts, and it’s clear he’s trying to prevent his impatience towards Tony from leaking through. “In your previous timeline, Thanos arrived five years after my New York attack - and it _still_ wasn’t enough time for you or Midgard to work on your defences. _This time,_ however - in your own words - we have a head start. We can take him down, because we _know_ he wants all the Infinity stones, and why he wants them.” He stops, and then adds a “Yes?” 

Tony nods, taking the cue to enter the conversation. “We have the Space Stone. The Mind Stone is in SHIELD’s custody-” A blood chilling thought strikes him. _Fuck._ “Or- or it’s with HYDRA. Fuck. No- wait. That’s not right, they didn’t have it that long. HYDRA took it during the fall of SHIELD - in the midst of all the confusion. That’s…” Tony trails off, his mind suddenly blank. The attack on the Triskelion, The Winter Soldier, Zola’s bunker… when- _when was that?_ He was just thinking it, right at the tip of his _tongue._ Was it two years? Or three? It was before Ultron, because that’s when HYDRA took the Sceptre, which means...

“That’s… two years from now, I think.” He finally says, silently thanking Loki for not pointing out the abrupt pause in his explanation. “It’s still with SHIELD, which means we can get it before HYDRA does. I can get JARVIS to get into their servers and find its location. And the Time Stone should be in New York. 177A Bleecker Street, if I’m right.” Loki seems to be deep in thought, so just as a precaution, Tony throws in a “HYDRA are the bad guys.” 

“I figured as much,” Loki hums in response. “But… we still don’t know about the other three. The Reality Stone and the Soul Stone are quite possibly the two most powerful out of the Stones. And we don’t know its location - it could be anywhere in the galaxy.” 

“Correction: _You_ don’t know where it is.” Tony says, pulling a triumphant look. “The Soul Stone is in Vormir. We had to-” And he _stops._ He only realized the error in his words after he had spoken them, because _fuck-_ Thanos and Gamora had gone to Vormir and only Thanos had returned. Barton and Romanoff had gone to Vormir and only Clint returned. If Loki and Tony go… 

“I can teleport us there.” Loki says, mistaking Tony’s pause to be related to the difficulty of getting there. 

“No, it’s not that,” he shakes his head. “I just remembered we need a ship. Sure, your skills would be a huge advantage, but we can’t risk not having a backup just in case you’re weakened.” Loki frowns, so Tony backtracks. “Uh, not that you _will_ be - but I’m not too keen on being stranded in space. Been there, done that. Not a fan.” He takes a moment, flashbacks of near-death from starvation and dehydration. The oxygen in the ship running out as Tony felt the air growing thin - it had become harder for him to even speak for long periods. Remembers seeing reflections of pale skin and sunken eyes, the brown in them almost faded to dullness. Remembers protruding bones and sagging skin, his stomach caving in from lack of food. He shakes the memory away.

“But I’d feel safer knowing there’s a Plan B. I have a newly constructed Quinjet in a warehouse a few miles away. I can reconfigure it for space travel - twice as fast this time, actually. Practice makes perfect.” 

Loki’s looking at him oddly, and Tony can’t figure out if the god is still offended over the ‘weakened’ comment. It feels like ages before he finally replies. “I understand. I am not all too keen on being stranded in space either - especially not with someone like you.” 

“Okay - _that’s_ rude.” 

“It’s hardly a lie.” 

“Fine.” A glare, and then, “Moving on, I know the Reality Stone will be in Asgard from 2013 - not quite sure of the exact month. And I don’t really recall the whereabouts of the Power Stone - Rhodey and Nebula went to get it the second time around during our time heist - some planet, I don’t remember the name. _But_ it was the first one that Thanos got a hold of… followed by the Space Stone.” Loki does a really good job of not reacting to the last bit. -- In the end, they come up with a skeletal framework of their plan - and they had more or less a year to put it into motion. Where Loki had previously _rushed_ Stark and guilt-tripped him into forming their plan for Thanos, he later confessed that they had at least a year before the threat became real. Thanos needed the Space Stone to create a portal to Earth, and without the Space Stone, his plans were thwarted by at least two years. With the way Loki was talking about Thanos, you’d think the guy had a PhD on the Titan. 

“So you can handle the power of the Infinity Stones?” 

“Of course, I can.” Loki’s brows crinkle in an offended frown. “I’ve held the combined energy of the Tesseract and the Sceptre.”

“Right, yeah. Just checking. Cause it didn’t really go that well for Bruce and I - pretty sure even Thanos had his arm paralyzed.” 

The look on Loki’s face was incredulous. Tony’s just about to reflect on his words to see if he said something wrong, when Loki speaks, “Banner… and _you?_ You used… the Infinity Stones?” 

“Not a fan of the way you just depreciated me there, but yeah. I used them, turned into a fine crisp, and I died. How did you think we beat Thanos?” 

“I- _No._ I wasn’t… depreciating you. I have never heard of a human wielding an Infinity Stone and living through it. You held-”

“Well, I didn’t live through it. I just told you-”

“-all _six. And_ defeated Thanos. I assumed he left you for dead on his planet. I didn’t think it would have been possible to... _Stark._ You realize you may have made _history_ in your other timeline? Midgardians have always been considered the weaker beings, and yet, _you-”_ Okay, now this was getting too much for Tony. 

“Hold on, I think I liked it better when you were depreciating me.” It felt strangely weird being complimented by Loki. From his limited interaction with Loki, and from what he’s heard from Thor, the god rarely showed any kind of admiration to other beings. The Tesseract, maybe. In a way, Loki and Tony were very much alike. Tony’s always had a habit of keeping people at arm’s length. He rarely showed explicit admiration or appreciation towards anybody - never wanted people to take advantage of being better than him - because it had made _him_ feel powerless. That one day, he could be at their mercy. Only a few had made the cut - Rhodey, Pepper and Happy - but even with them, it had taken several years. Bruce and Helen Cho were a few good exceptions. 

“You have my respect, Stark.” 

“Thanks?” This felt _wrong_ . Loki had _never_ been like this. For his own sanity, he better move on from the current topic. “Anyway, since my last experience with the Infinity Stones wasn't as pleasurable, I didn’t want to risk it the second time around. There’s a serum called Extremis that I thought we could use to combat the after-effects.” When Loki raises an interested brow at the mention of Extremis, Tony motions to JARVIS who pulls up a 2D hologram of the human brain. It comes into existence in the space between him and Loki. It’s right in front of Tony, and a considerable distance away from Loki, so the god starts walking towards the hologram as Tony starts speaking. 

“Essentially,” Tony takes a step forward, tapping on a part of the brain and enlarging it. “The serum integrates itself with the brain’s ‘repair centre’ - this is the part of our brain that has a complete mapping of the human body. Which means that any time we’re injured or in pain, the brain identifies the focal point and communicates with the rest of the body to initiate the healing process.” He pauses to glance at Loki’s face through the hologram, and it seems like the god is catching on, so Tony continues. 

“Anyway, the serum is injected into the back of the subject’s neck, right into the cervical nerves.” He zooms out, showing the rest of the human body. “It gets passed into the bloodstream, penetrates the nervous system, and accesses the body’s recovery centre. It identifies plausible future harm to the body - a cut, gunshot wound, loss of limbs, basically any injury and whatever stimuli that needs to be repaired. As a result, Extremis replaces the average human blueprint with an Extremis blueprint - in the process, the body is an open wound. _Sometimes_ , people explode.” He catches a shift in Loki’s expression. “Don’t worry, I’ll modify it. I’ve contacted Maya Hansen - she’s the one leading the project. It’s her baby as much as Iron Man is mine.” 

“I understand, but how would this help with the Infinity Stones?” 

Tony moves forward, moving his hands across the hologram to display how Extremis modifies the body. “Well, Extremis guides the body into rebuilding itself at a rapid rate. The body can regrow entire limbs, close wounds and boosts the regenerative healing factor. The serum rewrites the body’s repair and recovery centres, which means that the after-effects of the Infinity Stone can easily be negated. No harm, no foul.” 

“That is… rather impressive,” Loki muses, and Tony clears away the hologram. He suddenly realizes there’s almost no space between the two of them. The last time they were this close was when Loki had so graciously lifted him up in a choke-hold - but _this?_ This felt strange. Loki’s looking down at him with a smirk playing at his lips, and Tony gets the chance to look at his eyes. _Really_ look at them. They’re an electric green - buzzing with energy, and yet, there’s something alluring drawing him closer, it’s almost… hypnotizing- 

Tony takes a step back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent an entire day plotting out this story, and holy crap am I excited to write it all out!?!??  
> You might just have to brace yourselves for the coming chapters, I can barely stop shaking with excitement, hehe :D
> 
> Alsoo, kinda realized I'm super irregular with the updates - so I'm probably going to stick to the usual once-in-a-week updates with longer chapters, sorry if it's any inconvenience!


	6. Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little dialogue heavy, but maybe the Loki/Tony banter might help? :D

**_“Sir, Miss Potts is on her way to the penthouse.”_**

Tony swallows the huge sigh of relief that nearly escapes him, internally thanking Pepper for her impeccable timing. Loki’s still rooted to his spot, showing the least bit concern about Pepper showing up. 

“What, you’re just gonna stand here?”

But then again, Loki hasn’t had the pleasure of meeting Pepper. Not when she's in 'Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries' mode. Loki might have to wait a few days for that.

“Great - guess privacy’s out of the room.” Tony answers his own question after a few seconds of non-responsiveness from Loki. The god just continues to stare at him with an amused expression, but does an act of taking a few steps back as if that helps with the whole privacy thing. 

Tony turns as the elevator dings its arrival, doors parting to a relieved, teary-eyed Pepper. Her hand is pressed against her lips, a choked sob escaping between the gaps of long, manicured fingers as she starts half-walking and half-running towards Tony. It strikes him in that moment how different she looks from the last time she saw her - post-battle and drained of energy, the dust of Thanos’ army still settling down around her. 

He looks at her now, and there are no creases on her forehead from the years of dealing with Tony and SI; no more of the resignation in her eyes that he’d seen whenever he had to prioritize Iron Man over her; no pursed lips from fear of saying the wrong thing and damaging their already delicate relationship. 

He looks at her now, ten years in the past, and somehow it doesn’t ignite the feelings it should. 

“Oh, _Tony_ ,” Is all she says before enveloping him in a hug. It feels familiar, and _strange._ It’s like visiting your childhood home - there’s familiarity, but there’s no… belonging. 

He can’t point out a specific reason as to why he thinks that. 

Maybe that when he looks at Pepper’s face, all he can see is the face of the daughter he left behind. 

Maybe the fact that they both knew their time together was long gone, and yet continued to stick together for the sake of Morgan - a hope that she might mend what they couldn’t. 

Pepper breaks the hug to press a quick kiss against Tony’s lips. He’s glad it only lasts for a second, because he isn’t sure how she would have taken it if it had gone longer and Tony was yet to kiss back. 

He can sense Loki’s presence from behind him, but doesn't risk looking back without raising some suspicion to Pepper.

“What were you _thinking?”_ She finally asks - screeches, more like - her eyes blazing with equal amounts of anger and fear. “ _God_ , it was bad enough that I had to watch you fly a _nuclear_ missile into a space portal-” 

“Pep-” 

“- _Only_ to find out you were _calling_ me during what were possibly your last few seconds on Earth- actually, _no -_ your last few seconds-”

“In my defense-”

“ _Alive.”_

“Which I _am.”_ Tony says, taking her hand into his and instantly regretting it a moment later. It doesn’t feel as familiar as it should. He lets go. “So really, one might say you’re overreacting. Just a bit. And by _one_ , I mean me.” 

“No, I think I’m allowed to overreact here, okay? I think, as your former-secretary, as CEO of Stark Industries, as your boss,and as your _girlfriend,_ that this,” -she aggressively motions to herself, “is a perfectly acceptable reaction.” 

“No, yeah. Definitely acceptable.” Tony agrees before Pepper has another chance to dig into the next layer. He takes a step back, spreading out his arms as he does so. “Just a little pointless now, I think? I survived, saved the world in the process and now I’m as dandy as I could be.” 

Pepper purses her lips, realizing that she was getting nowhere by even attempting to chide Tony - who keeps flicking her concerns away like an inconvenient bug. 

“Maria told me Loki escaped...” Pepper starts, and oh _god_ Tony’s praying she doesn’t accidentally say something that may get her on Loki’s wrong side. He sneaks a peek at Loki behind him, who, to Pepper’s misfortune, seems very invested in the following words. “Do you know where he is?” 

“Maria?” It’s an attempt. 

“Hill.” Pepper clarifies, but the frown on her face indicates that she knew Tony knew that already. “You know where he is, don’t you?” 

“If I knew I’d be having him clean up this mess. Don’t think he’ll show face anytime soon - especially when yours truly wiped out his entire army.” 

“I think you’re taking it the opposite way.” 

“Whatever way it is, I’ll be fine. 

“Tony, you can’t keep doing this to yourself." She says, and it gets no reaction from Tony. "I know you have the suits to protect you, but you’re still human. You don’t have the supersoldier serum flowing through your veins, you don’t have a nearly indestructible alter-ego, you don’t have godlike abilities, and I think I would have known if you’ve had training like Miss Romanoff.” She cracks a smile towards the end if it’s something funny - an attempt to soothe the situation. It isn’t, and Tony doesn’t respond with a smile like she wants him to. 

Pepper continues, taking a step forward. “I know you think-” And stops. Tony hadn’t even realized he’d taken a synchronizing step back, maintaining their distance, but judging by the look on Pepper’s face, she realized. There is careful calculation in her eyes, but she doesn’t mention it. Tony doesn’t think he would have been able to answer that, anyway. Not when Pepper’s asking. 

“Tony,” She finally sighs, after a long suffering silence. “Listen to me. I love you. _God_ knows I do. But you’re risking your _life_. You risked it during Afghanistan, during the time you made me overload the arc reactor, during Vanko and even _today_ \- you barely made it. I had to watch you _fall._ If the Hulk hadn’t got to you when he did…” She trails off, but the silence is all too loud. He knows she’s right. 

In the older timeline, he hadn’t even given it a second thought. He continued gambling with his life until he ran out of luck with Thanos’ gauntlet. Even now, moments prior to Pepper’s arrival, he was just discussing with Loki about _Extremis_ \- a near-lethal serum - and building a _spaceship,_ and their plan to defeat Thanos. _Again._ He’s nowhere close to giving up that life. He can’t. Even if it's bound to cause repurcussions in his and Pepper's relationship. He may have a family some day, but he's never going to stop risking his life as long as it means there's one less threat to his loved ones.

Pepper’s still looking at him, and it dawns on him that she’s giving him a choice. He doesn’t even have to think twice for his answer. 

“I’m not giving up the suits.” He hopes the finality manifests into his words. The silence feels heavy as he comes to terms with the weight of his words. 

Pepper nods, just once. He’s gotta hand it to her - if Tony didn’t know Pepper as much as he does, he would have thought she felt absolutely no sorrow at his response. But it’s there - in the clench of her jaw, in her lips that are pressed into a straight line, in the barely recognizable sheen in her eyes, and even in her ramrod straight posture that seems to be holding her up purely from muscle memory. 

There’s a sad smile when she breaks the silence. “SI?” 

“Still your baby,” He confirms, unable to miss the relief that fills her eyes. “Consider me an estranged father.” 

That, thankfully, earns a short laugh. It’s genuine. “Okay.” 

He smiles. 

Pepper leaves a while later, muttering something about meetings and documents to be signed which was - well, pretty smart of her. The last thing Tony would do would be keeping Pepper around when she starts droning on about SI responsibilities. He knew the _important_ ones, and really, he wasn’t paying Pepper or the several managers to just be sitting idle. 

The minute Pepper disappears behind the elevator doors, Loki, who’s made himself comfortable on Tony’s couch, speaks. 

“That was certainly exhaustive. Do all your Midgardian relations end like that?” Tony can't help his eyes from rolling as he whips around to face Loki.

“Exhaus- we said like _ten_ words! If anything, that’s a _record-_ wait. Are you being sarcastic?” Tony asks mid-brag, noticing the slow growing curve of Loki’s lips. 

“Sarcastic? What might that be, pray tell?” 

“Oh, you’re _evil.”_

\--

He's surprised it takes Fury this long to call him. 

_“Stark,”_ Fury doesn’t even wait for Tony to get the first word in when he answers the call. Tony switches to the call to hands-free before replying. 

“Yes, dear?” It’s a term that he’s sure just made Fury grind his teeth. 

_“We need you to return to base. Dr. Banner’s working on tracking Loki and the Tesseract and he’ll need the input.”_ Tony glances at Loki, who leans back against the couch, hands folded across his chest. 

“Wish I could.” He exchanges a quick grin with Loki before continuing. “I’m mentally compromised at the moment. I just broke up with my girlfriend of 2 years - there was a lot of screaming, throwing things - the whole charade really. It’s a really trying time for me. I think it began when we uncovered Obie’s betrayal? I mean yeah, sure I almost died - but I had the reactor that Pepper gifted. So, _technically_ , she saved my life. And you know what? I don’t think she takes enough credit for-” 

_“Stark, I am not your damn therapist.”_

“That’s right. You’re not. Bye!” He hangs up before Fury can even get another word in and then promptly rounds on Loki. 

“You realize they’re going to track the Tesseract here, right? To my humble abode? Tony points out, and he doesn’t like the way Loki rolls his eyes all too patronizingly. 

“They can only track it if it’s on this realm.” And if Tony wasn’t already confused, Loki takes the Tesseract in his possession and pushes it forward in the air - almost like he was placing something on an invisible shelf. 

What Tony _doesn’t_ expect is the dark slit appearing out of _nowhere_ , in _midair_ \- and the Tesseract, along with Loki’s hand, disappearing inside it. He pulls his hand out, Tesseract no longer in his hold, and the slit disappears. “I doubt your technology is advanced enough to track it in another dimension.” 

“What,” is all Tony can muster. He walks to where Loki’s seated, stands right in front of the magical slit ( _god, the puns he could make)_ and swipes his hand through. Nothing. “What was that?” 

“It’s an extradimensional space catered to me.” Loki replies as if it was obvious as the grass being green. “You might call it a pocket-dimension.” 

“Wait - that’s an actual _thing?_ Not just a theory - but it’s practical? And you can just… what, tap into it? How?” 

“Magic,” Loki says by way of explaining, which doesn’t help at all. He rolls his eyes, and continues, “It’s the same concept that is used for my illusions, or being invisible to someone’s eye - I merely shape matter according to my will.” 

“Point to note: do not fuck with you.” 

“I certainly wouldn’t be averse to it.” Loki says, and it sounds way too suggestive that Tony does a double take. By the smug look on Loki’s face and the twinkle in his eye, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that the god was all too aware of Tony’s thought process.

“Quit that.” A moment of overthinking, and then: “Are you hypnotizing me?” 

“What made you reach that conclusion?” He leans back against the couch, head tilted up towards Tony and still managing to look down at the inventor. 

Tony shoots him a wary look, holds it, and then: “Nothing.” He switches the topic before Loki can continue having more fun at Tony’s expense. Moving to sit on the single-seater couch beside the one where Loki sat - not too far, not too close - Tony continues, “So... what else is hidden inside your secret dimension? Voodoo dolls of your enemies?”

“Among several things.” Loki replies, and Tony isn’t sure if he’s joking or not. “The Casket of Ancient Winters, my knives, Gram-” 

“Kilo?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Nevermind. What’s Gram?” 

“It’s my sword,” The god replies, expression growing smug again. He folds his hand across his chest, and continues, “It forces a being to speak the truth, or come to terms with their internal truth when it cuts them. Particularly useful for the God of Lies.”

“ _Huh._ No kidding. Any chance we could use it on Fury?” 

Loki gives him a look that shuts him up. 

Tony gets busy soon enough. The Department of Damage Control had been hoarding his phone with calls and emails about cleaning up the city post-battle. He’s scrolling through his phone, reading through emails and messages, replying only to a select few, when Loki speaks. He’s standing by the window, looking out at the crumbling city.

“You mentioned a Maya Hansen for your serum. Where is she?” 

“Uh,” Tony says distractedly, typing out a reply as he answers Loki. “She needs to get a personal day. Her boss is a piece of shit.” He offers as an explanation, looking up for a brief second before turning his attention back to the phone screen. “And that’s me being nice to someone who tried to murder me.” 

“Is he important?” There’s an incoming call on his cell, which immediately gets recognized as a D.O.D.C number.

“Killian? No, he- just give me a second-” He answers the call, says a “ _is this vocal confirmation enough?”_ before hanging up, and resumes tapping at his phone. “Where was I? Yeah. Killian’s not important. Just another terrorist staining the population. Maya knows what we need. Has what we need.” Finally, he looks up. “Why?” 

“What’s his name?”

“Killian.” Tony says, going back to his phone and sending out a few not-so-nicely worded messages. _For Gods’ sake_ , how long does it take to send out a few trucks into the city? Then he remembers Loki’s question. “Uh- Aldrich Killian. Why?” 

“He is in this country?” 

Tony looks up, his phone forgotten, and squints. “Yeah, Miami. _Why?”_

Loki vanishes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I promised longer chapters, and I'm so sorry! My dissertation is due for submission on the 15th, and I've been extremely busy with the process. I'll try sneaking in an update or two before the deadline - but they'll probably be only around 2-3k words!:/  
> Sorrrryyy x


	7. Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bon appetit

It doesn’t even take 10 minutes for JARVIS to drop the bomb. 

**_“Sir, Loki’s back in the penthouse. I have reason to believe the unconscious woman in his grasp is Maya Hansen.”_ **

“ _Son of a-”_

Loki and his _damn_ refusal to _communicate_. 

Tony has two choices now: he could stick to the plan of going to Miami and attempt to contain the wreck that Loki no doubt left in his wake, or go back before Maya Hansen wakes up in the presence of an ex-madman who just tried to enslave the world. 

Unfortunately for Tony, the ‘ex’ part of that sentence was something Maya isn’t privy to. 

With a heavy string of curses leaving his mouth, Tony takes a U-turn mid-air and heads straight back to New York. 

Just one _hour,_ all he wants is _one hour_ of peace and quiet without Loki running off and taking matters into his own hands. Does it make it easy for Tony? Sure. But that’s nothing he’s even close to admitting as far as Loki’s concerned. 

But then again, _as far as Loki’s concerned,_ there’s a group of bloodthirsty SHIELD agents and superheroes who are out for his blood, and yet, in the middle of all this, the god remains adamant about doing everything in his power to tick _every_ single box in the ‘Give Tony Stark a Heart Attack’ list. 

“J, keep an eye out for news reports around Killian. Tweets, posts, stories - the like. Actually, keep me updated on anything in Miami that mentions Loki or Killian. The guy needs a god _damn leash.”_

**_“I’m certain a leash would prove effective.”_ **

"Real mature, JARV. Keep that sass up for our resident god, would ya?"

**_"A bit too soon to be calling him a resident, sir."_ **

“Yeah, something tells me I’m gonna have to get used to it.”

There’s an annoying shape of a figure standing on the terrace of his building; just basking in the golden sunset of New York. Tony’s not judging either, it’s one of the best times to be out in the terrace, but this is not the time to be _relatable._

When Tony’s close enough, a grin breaks out on Loki’s face and the god starts walking backwards into the penthouse. 

“I wondered where you-” Loki starts, just as Tony gets out of his suit. For someone who had just vanished into thin air, _definitely_ attacked a bunch of people, and kidnapped a woman, Loki seemed incredibly indifferent. Judging by the god’s relaxed stance, he hadn’t even considered that Tony would lose his cool. _What the hell goes on in Asgard?_

“Stop talking,” Tony cuts him off, holding up his index finger, “You pull _anything_ like this again without telling me-” he points the same finger to an unconscious Maya Hansen who’s been laid down on the sofa, “this little alliance we have right here is over. _Kaput_.” If the universe had actually aligned, it would have sounded more threatening, but one can only do so much. Especially when said someone is faced with a god who can incapacitate anybody in the blink of an eye. Tony’s still glaring, and the slight narrowing eyes is the only thing that serves as evidence that he even heard Tony. If Loki took Tony’ words with only a pinch of salt, the god doesn’t say anything.

“Now what did you do to her? And Killian-? _God_ , do I have to worry about that guy too?” 

“He’s not…” Loki lowers his chin with a deliberate, _unnecessary,_ pause. “...dead.” 

“Okay, that’s good.” He breathes a sigh of relief, and starts walking to Maya when he stops: “Wait - Is _it?”_

“Unless you wanted blood on your hands, I believe it to be good. I simply _influenced_ them into aiding me.” Loki makes it sound so easy, so _mundane,_ but emphasis on that one word doesn’t settle well with Tony at all. He knows all about Loki’s ‘influence’ - all the way from Selvig and Barton, to an entire bunch of a ridiculously dressed superhero team that Tony had the privilege of being a part of. 

“For your sake, I hope you’re elaborating.” Tony kneels down beside Maya, pushing down the sudden wave of guilt stemming from the memory of her murder, and checks her pulse. She doesn’t seem to be injured either, nor does she look like she’s been thrown out a window, which is a good thing.

“I stabbed them-” Oh _hell._

“That is the exact _opposite-”_

“-with _Gram_. They’re not _dead._ ” Loki repeats, nostrils flaring. The god looks angry, so Tony keeps his mouth shut. After a good long glare that achieved its purpose, Loki calmly continues, “The sword allowed Killian and his subjects to become aware of the corruption in their minds. I freed them from their own deception.”

“Some of them had Extremis inside them. Killian did. Your sword took that out too?”

“Yes. They were quite weakened when I left. I expect they’ll die soon.” 

“ _What?!_ You just said-” 

“I _said_ they are not dead.” Loki shoots another glare, and has the audacity to look offended at the accusation. “But they _will_ be soon.” He blinks once at Tony’s gaping expression. “I am hardly a humanitarian.” 

Tony doesn’t know what the _hell_ Loki did to Maya, because they’re well into midnight and she hasn’t even stirred from her position on the couch. In the hours that led up to this time, Tony had to deal with an impatient Loki attempting to wake her up - _‘I do not have the patience for this’_ \- only for Tony to threaten the termination of their alliance. There was no way Loki took him seriously, but Tony was fairly sure the god was immersing in delight at the sight of a tiny, mortal man trying to protect an unconscious woman. 

A few hours later, Loki lets out a very exaggerated sigh and just vanishes. Tony’s too tired, and too sleep-deprived to worry about that. Instead, he sits on the coffee table opposite the sofa, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. A single hand cradles his cheek as he tries to blink away his all-too-consuming desire to sleep. 

Every time that his eyes landed on Maya, it brought up way too many unwanted memories. God, if he had kept quiet and _listened_ to her instead of arguing with Pepper about the big bunny, if the suit had come just a _few_ minutes earlier he could have saved her from being murdered, if he hadn’t just up and _left her_ in Switzerland. 

_It’s his fault._

He spots Maya’s eyes fluttering open, and Tony wastes no time in pulling up his facade. 

“Rise and shine,” Tony chirps from opposite her, sitting up straight. “Scrambled or sunny-side up?” 

“Stark?” She zeroes in on his face and blinks. He figures Loki must have set some kind of alarm that signals him when she wakes up, because the god appears a few feet away, just out of her sight. 

“What the _hell?_ ” She frowns as she sits up, and Tony gives time to take in her surroundings before he speaks again. 

“Not hell. Welcome to Casa de Stark.” 

Maya’s eyes scan the lit-up buildings over Tony’s shoulder, and he watches as realization sinks in. “New York.” She snorts, rolling her eyes. “Why am I not surprised? You couldn’t wait a few days?” 

“Hey, don’t blame me. I could wait. Someone else didn’t agree with me.” He pointedly motions in Loki’s direction before Maya’s caught off-guard in the god’s presence. 

She follows Tony, and her eyes finally settle on Loki who had been standing a few feet away. In the middle of the room - just like that. Not unsettling in the least. She snaps her attention back to Tony, her voice lower. “Who’s that?”

“Ahh,” Tony feels his mouth go dry, and with the way Maya’s squinting, it probably won’t take her long to connect a strangely-dressed man in Stark tower to a strangely-dressed man who led an invasion from Stark Tower. “That’s not important. For now. Unless you accidentally find out - then I’m sorry.” 

Maya just _ignores_ Tony, and fixes a suspicious eye upon Loki. 

“What’s your name?” She asks, and _right,_ like Loki would just _allow_ her to find out who he-

“Loki.” _Great._ Maya rounds on Tony with a triumphant smirk - not even a hint of fear that Tony had expected. It's strangely unsettling. 

“Conspiring with a villain on a secret project? Didn’t think we had so much in common.” She says, and her eyes carry the twinkle of someone who knows they can stump the words right out of Tony. And it does, if only for a brief second. Because, _this_? This is the Maya that he had gotten to know back in Switzerland, all those years ago - the one whose words jabbed in just the right places. 

Their interaction was fairly short - all thanks to Tony’s fear of committing - but Maya had read Tony look an open book. She knew just the right words to stump him, just the right ones to make him laugh, and just the right ones to impress him - and it had terrified him. But even then, if he hadn’t let his ego cloud his actions, Maya could have been a good friend. 

He suddenly realizes he hasn’t retaliated with his own set of words. “Only the second time I’ve proven you wrong.” 

“When was the first?” 

Tony raises a single brow, a complacent smile pulling at his lips. It earns an eye roll from Maya, who’s more amused than offended at the reminder of their past relationship. 

_‘Norns, Stark - was she your bedmate?’_ Loki’s voice fills his mind, which Tony promptly refrains from answering. He graces Loki with a blank look, and turns back to Maya as she speaks. 

“Why did you - or, _he,_ ” She cocks her head towards where Loki’s standing - rather uselessly, one could say, “-bring me here, Tony?” 

“Straight to the point. Great.” Tony claps his hands together. At least he didn’t have to wait for the whole ‘dust to settle’ situation. “I want to help you in stabilizing Extremis.” 

“Why now?” 

“Uh, that’s a long story.” He tries to dismiss it, but Maya was insistent on an explanation. 

“You pretty much forced me here. I have nothing but time.” Tony purses his lips, and then sighs. Maya’s trustworthy, probably one of the handful of people that Tony knows who’s good at keeping her mouth shut. So he tells her.

It’s a slightly altered version where he’s _not_ Tony Stark from 2023, and just Tony Stark from 2012 who just had his third eye opened after falling from the wormhole. He doesn’t think there will be an end to her questions if he tells her he’s from the future - fairly sure there will be the inevitable question of what happened to her. 

Most of the explanations circle back to Loki, and the reasoning behind it? _Magic._ There’s nothing that magic can’t explain, so it just gives him an easy way out instead of delving into a situation.

He tells her about Loki being forced under Thanos’ control, and he doesn’t really _lie,_ he just didn’t tell her the _year_ that he found out. Finally, Tony brings up Extremis, wanting to use it in hopes of being able to counteract the power of the Infinity Stones - one of which is in the Tesseract that Loki had conveniently stolen. Maya casts a wary glance in Loki’s direction, and turns to Tony. 

“This is going to be extremely dangerous, Tony,” She starts, and Tony’s glad that at least it wasn’t an explicit no, which means it could be something worth considering. “Extremis is not… what you saw thirteen years ago. It’s highly unstable.” Tony reaches forward and places his hand on her knee in what he hopes is a comforting gesture.

“Not if we stabilize it, it won’t. Which we will.” He takes his hand back. “I got a pretty impressive lab, I can get you whatever you need - equipment, strippers, the like. We’ll be done in no time.” 

“It’s not something we can complete overnight. It’s not something we can jump into - we’ll need to run trials and tests in every stage of the process. There’s always a risk of it overloading.” 

“Did you just hear a word I said? We can stabilize it. You wanted my help all those years ago, you have it. Now, take it.” 

“I’ll still need the data from the previous trials and the remaining vials of Extremis. It’s back in-” 

“If I may,” Loki finally speaks after his radio silence. The god reaches into the air in front of him - which Tony guesses is Loki’s attempt to show off his pocket dimension - and pulls out five vials with bubbling orange liquid in his hand. The other hand does a tiny flick of his wrist, and a stack of files and paper materializes on the table right next to Tony. 

Tony looks at Loki, and back at Maya. She glances at Loki before skimming through the contents on the table, and finally looking at Tony. He gives a small nod - _it’s okay_ \- and she reaches to take the files in her possession, flicking through them as her eyes scan the pages. 

“I assume this is what you needed.” 

Loki still hadn’t moved from where he stood, and Tony wonders if this is some weird attempt to seem non-threatening.

“Yeah, thanks.” She briefly glances at Loki, before turning back to the files. “I guess.” 

“You _guess?”_ Loki is quick to jump in at the vague dismissal of his abilities. _Ah,_ non-threatening just flew out that window. “If I hadn’t procured this before your leader unleashed that wave of fire upon us, you’d be _dead.”_

“I’m sorry, _you_ only wanted me alive because I’m the means to this guy,” she jerks her head towards Tony, “wanting to self-destruct.” It earns a sound of protest from Tony, which Maya ignores. She turns to Loki. “Tony didn’t tell me how you fit into this.” 

Tony hadn’t really broached the topic of Loki during his explanation, only pushing Loki aside as the ‘informant’ while he rambled off the more important objectives. 

Loki grits his teeth in a way that Tony’s pretty sure is bad for his teeth, and lifts his chin ever so slightly. “I’m going to be the one who kills Thanos.” 

“You kidnapped me because you want to kill a guy?” Maya asks, clearly out to get herself thrown out a window. Loki’s eyes narrow into slits, lips parting to spew god-knows what, when- 

“Woah, _hey._ Take a chill pill.” Two pairs of eyes fix themselves on him. “Seriously, there’s valium in that drawer over there. Oh, and before I forget,” He turns to Maya, “after the whole Extremis shebang is done, you might have to help me get the shrapnel out of my chest.” 

_‘Shrapnel?’_ Ignoring the god is turning out to be somewhat of a reflex now, and there’s a visible huff from Loki from the corner of his eyes. _‘For Norns’ sake.’_

Maya’s staring at him, and Tony can almost see the gears turning in her head, until finally: “Let me guess, Afghanistan?” 

_‘What happened in Afghanistan?’_ Loki butts in again, and Tony just pats Maya’s knee as he stands up. 

“I knew I didn’t keep you around just cause you were pretty.” 

‘ _St_ _ark!’_

“I remember you not keeping me around at all.” 

“Touche.” Tony says, moving away from Maya, and giving her time to jot down a list of whatever they’ll need to work on stabilizing Extremis. 

Loki’s eyes follow Tony as he walks past, which Tony is only vaguely aware of as he pulls out his phone and starts tapping away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I may have completed my dissertation five days prior to the deadline, so YAY! More time to write 😎  
> This chapter was more or less a filler, with Maya being introduced and all, but next one may be more to your liking :D


	8. Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second update in under a day? _Whaaaat?_  
>  I had so much fun with this chapter hehehe 🤭  
> ANNNND it's a 5k chapter, so I'm very proud.

The next morning, Maya hands Tony a list of all the equipment she needs for the serum. He briefly goes through it before passing it on to JARVIS, who promises the deliveries to be completed within the day. 

When Loki just vanished during the night, Maya and Tony used their privacy to catch up on what they’ve been up to the last decade. The years till 2012 felt like a blur to Tony - with memories and incidents from the future fresh in his mind - it made him pretty useless on that front of ‘catching up’ with the past. But then again, considering he was plastered on magazines and newspapers every other day, there was rarely anything that would have been news for Maya. 

And then, when Tony nearly dozed off mid-conversation, Maya just suggested that he go to sleep. Tony vividly recollects mumbling some form of thanks, and then telling her to ask JARVIS for a room to sleep in. 

“If you want temporary housing here, you’re welcome to move in.” He says, to which Maya raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, not something I thought I’d be telling you either.” 

“Where are you going?” She asks, quick to divert and quick to notice that Tony wasn’t in his pajamas. 

“Gotta go check on a quinjet.” He dismisses vaguely, taking backward steps to the ramp. “I’ll be back in a few hours. If you need me, just tell JARVIS. If you need food, just tell JARVIS. If you need anything else…”

“Just tell JARVIS?”

“Basically.” 

Loki’s just exiting from the cargo ramp when Tony flies in through the open roof of the warehouse. 

“Couldn’t wait?” Tony asks, flipping open his visor and raising a single brow at the god. While Tony had been in conversation with Maya, Loki had all but irritated the inventor into telling Loki where the quinjet is. Promptly after that, without even a thank you, the god just vanished into thin air. It was probably a reach to have expected Loki to wait for him while Tony flew all the way here.

“You were expecting me to?” The god feigns innocence, all doe-eyed and raised brows. 

“I’ve learnt not to keep any when it comes to you,” He responds, earning a righteous scowl from Loki. Tony gets out of his suit and he walks towards the stealth aircraft. Loki’s scowl follows him. 

“So, let’s hear it.” Tony pats the side of the quinjet, shooting an expectant look at Loki who just folds his arms across his chest. 

“Hear what?” 

“All that you have to say about the quinjet being incompetent for space.” 

When Loki’s silent, his face a perfect blank canvas, Tony continues, “What - _nothing_?” 

“This may come as a surprise to you, Stark,” Loki starts, enunciating every syllable as if speaking to a child, “but I’m not as bitter as you make me out to be.” He turns, tracing his own footsteps back and stopping right where the ramp meets the warehouse floor. There’s a hum reverberating through him as he gazes up at the quinjet. “In fact, I think this will work just fine.” 

“Yeah, because ‘fine’ is the most heart-warming compliment you could give this baby.” 

═════════════

_**May 15th, 2012** _

Rhodey walks into Tony’s lab, registers the scene, and walks straight back out. The inventor sneaks a glance at Maya - swiping through the holograms surrounding her, and seemingly oblivious to the fact that Rhodey had just walked in. Or, she did notice him, and chose to save Tony from an awkward introduction. 

Tony follows Rhodey out, meeting Rhodey mid-way at the stairs so they’re out of sight from Maya.

“Tony, is that who I think it is?” The words are out of his mouth before Tony can so much as greet his friend. 

“Depends on who you think it is,” Tony answers lamely, and Rhodey sighs. 

“What’s Maya Hansen doing in your lab?” And there’s not even a flicker of doubt in his question, meaning Rhodey was absolutely sure of Maya’s face from a blurry video call patched through a VP-210 - ten _years_ ago.

“ _Wow_ , gotta hand it to you. _I_ barely recognized her the first time.” 

Rhodey raises his eyebrows in a gesture of: ‘ _and?’_

“Uh, we’re working on a project.” And then, he adds a: “Classified,” like it’ll help. Which does; but just not in the way Tony expected it to.

“Hey, man, I’m not judging.” Rhodey’s quick to respond. “Just seems a bit rushed.” 

“Rushed? Wh- _Oh._ ” There are times when Rhodey just excels at reading Tony without the inventor even having to say a single word. But, there are also times when James Rupert Rhodes is irrevocably, _embarrassingly,_ wrong. “No. We’re not… that. The thing she told me about in Switzerland? Extremis? We’re working on that. It’s hopeful.” 

“The whole limb regrowth thing?” He wasn’t in Switzerland in Tony, but whatever Rhodey missed out by not being there physically, Tony had made up for it with a two-hour-long conversation about Maya and her super-secret project inspired from Dr. Erskine’s serum. 

“Among other things, yeah,” 

Rhodey folds his arms across his chest, and odd look schooled on his face. “Since when are you into developmental biology?”

“Since I called her 10 days ago.” 

“I’ll be damned.” Rhodey’s eyes widen in mock disbelief. “You called a girl back?” 

Tony resists the urge to facepalm and instead resorts to throwing up his hands in resignation. “It’s for a _scientific_ purpose.” 

“Oh, okay. _That’s_ what we’re calling it now,” his friend points out - grinning -- and it takes Tony a few seconds to match the grin. The smile is soon wiped off of Rhodey’s face, into an expression all too familiar, and Tony waits for the inevitable topic of discussion.

“Pepper told me what happened. Figured I’d give you some space. You talk to her after?” He appreciates that Rhodey doesn’t really mention the ‘ _why didn’t you tell me?’_ although the question hangs heavy in the air. 

“Formally, yeah. SI e-mails. But other than that,” -he motions behind him, towards the lab, “I’ve been a bit occupied.” Rhodey shoots him a look, which Tony immediately shoots down with a “ _Don’t.”_

He glances towards the workshop one more time before turning to Rhodey. “You free for lunch?”

“Careful, wouldn't want Hansen to think I’m stealing your ass.” 

“Keep your voice down.” is all Tony says as he walks past, Rhodey close behind.

═════════════

_**May 27th, 2012** _

“Essentially, your body thinks it’s under attack,” Maya says, motioning to the hologram of the human body that shows the immediate effects of Extremis. “The body’s immune system starts acting up. The cytokine molecules are activated, and with Extremis cursing through the blood, the inflammation maximises body heat. But when it crosses a certain threshold, it burns through the flesh and-”

“Boom.” Tonys supplies. 

Maya sighs at his oversimplification of the process, but answers with a curt: “Yeah.” 

“What if we could regenerate tissue faster than the rate of the body heating up?”

Maya stops, eyes flicking around in thought. She glances back at the hologram, her head nodding vigorously. “We can try to enhance the healing speed before the body can even activate the cytokines. Because if the healings fast enough then the-” 

“-the body won’t even think it’s under attack.” Tony finishes, walking up to where she’s staring at another hologram that shows the contents of Extremis. 

“I’ve tried increasing the proportion of the fibroblast cells in the serum so that Extremis could boost the healing process-”

“Let me guess, it sped up the whole burning process?” He asks, raising his eyebrows as he cocks his head towards her. Maya frowns, eyes still fixed on the hologram.

“Yeah.” She sighs and purses her lips in frustration.

“There’s this study on certain fishes - like zebrafish - how they’re able to heal damaged tissue and regrow limbs. If we figure out how those genes are activated during injury, then we can just engineer it into the serum.”

“That won’t work. What if-” Maya starts, but Tony cuts her off.

“Our evolution can be traced all the way to these fishes, and somewhere along the way, we lost the capability to regenerate. We use these regeneration genes, inject it into the body through Extremis, and it’ll splash cold water all over the genes responsible for regeneration and wake it up inside us.” He looks at her, the frown on her face evidence of the gears turning in her head. “Theoretically, the body will reach full regenerative potential.”

The gears click, and she looks up at him with wide eyes. “And that’s our stabilizing element.” 

“That’s our stabilizing element.”

═════════════

_**June 4th, 2012** _

“Hey, listen.” Tony looks up from where he’s working on the engine, eyes landing on Loki who’s lounging on a sofa that the god had just procured from thin air. He thinks Loki’s asleep until green eyes slowly peek out from dark lashes. 

“Hm?” is all Loki says, not bothering to move or even open his eyes all the way. So much for getting his attention.

“My dad harnessed the energy from the Tesseract to create the arc reactor. Unlimited clean energy.”

“Ah, good for him.” And Loki shuts his eyes again, seemingly done with the conversation. Tony huffs. 

“No, _l_ _isten._ If we can harness the power of the Tesseract, somehow integrate it with a reactor, we can create a new element that enables teleportation.”

“I was under the impression I already enabled teleportation,” Loki responds with an air of superiority that Tony’s quick to dissipate. 

“And _I_ was under the impression the whole reason we’re reconfiguring the quinjet for space travel was in the event of you being weakened. Think you can handle teleporting an entire spaceship?” 

Loki scowls, and then sits up, clearly not satisfied in the change of position. “What are you planning?” 

“We secure the element to the quinjets engine, and it’s only a matter of punching in the coordinates. Faster than the speed of light.” 

Loki hums, and it’s somewhat approving, which is more than Tony can ask for.

═════════════

_**June 19th, 2012** _

“What did Thor say about those shackles? The so-called magic dampeners?” Tony asks one day, entirely out of the blue. Loki looks up, and so does Maya. 

“There are magic shackles?” She asks, eyes sparkling in piqued interest. There’s a suggestive lilt to her voice that Tony’s all too quick to jump on. 

“Why, you interested?” Maya pulls an exaggerated look of disgust and turns her attention back to her laptop. Tony returns his attention to Loki. 

“How’d you get out of them anyway?” 

“They were tailored to contain an Asgardian,” Loki says, and when it earns nothing but a blank look, he elaborates, “I am not Asgardian.” 

“Right. Yeah, Thor said you’re adopted. So what-gardian are you?”

“I am not any _gardian_ ,” Loki pulls a face, and it’s over in a flash when he straightens his expression again. “I’m a Jötunn.” 

“So, what- you’re from another planet?” 

“Another realm, yes.” Loki corrects, and he doesn’t sound all too pleasured divulging the information. “Odin stole me from my home realm, and brought me up in the pretense of being of Asgard.” 

“Great. We’ll get to the daddy issues later,” is all Tony says, and then returns to the matter at hand. “Anyway, where did you say those shackles were made?” 

“Nidavellir.” Loki answers. “Shackles are not all that they make. Their hands forged the Sceptre, Mjolnir, Gungnir, Hofund, Janbjorn...” Loki continues to name odd-sounding names that completely fly out of Tony’s head, all because of one striking thought that’s blaring red alarms and submerging every other thought process in his mind. When Loki finally finishes, Tony speaks. 

“So they’re like the blacksmiths of the galaxy?” Loki nods slowly. “Think they’d be able to make a gauntlet that can contain the power of the Infinity Stones?” Tony spots the exact moment the implication sets in, the slight widening of eyes and his gaze flicking around in thought before they snap back to Tony’s. 

“You think… Thanos asked-” -a brief glance at Maya, “- _will ask_ the dwarves to forge a gauntlet?” 

“Seems possible, doesn’t it? If they’re as talented as you make them out to be.” 

“Yes.” The word escapes his mouth in a whisper.

“So what say you and I take a trip in our favourite rocket ship?”

Loki’s eyes snap up, more in disbelief than surprise. “You wish to go to Nidavellir?” 

The sharpness in Loki’s voice grabs Maya’s attention, followed by a “you’re going into space?” 

“Yeah,” he answers, and then turns to Loki. “We get the gauntlet, we get the stones and just snap him out of existence. Or, if you’re feeling especially reckless, snap them out of existence. That’s what Thanos did the last time. Think he got his arm fried, cause Bruce definitely did - you probably can too, but with Extremis, I can definitely take it.” 

“The dwarves aren’t entirely fond of my presence,” Loki says, and it’s all the confirmation Tony needs that Loki’s on board. 

“But they like Thor, right?” He asks, not even missing a beat, and watches as Loki the miniscule frown in the god's face turns into wicked realization. 

“I’m sorry,” Maya breaks into the silence. “Am I the only one here who knows what a suicide mission is? Or is that just a girl thing” 

═════════════

_**July 12th, 2012** _

“Yes, dear?” Tony greets as soon as he answers Fury’s call. 

“ _Stark_ , _what’s the word on Loki?”_

“Word - nothing,” Tony says, turning around to look at Loki who’s reading a book. Tony’s fairly sure the god is pretending like he wasn’t even listening in on the phone call. “ _Words_ , on the other hand - uh, god, sceptre, magic, New York, Chitauri.” Loki’s eyes snap up, confirming Tony’s suspicion. _And attractive,_ adds the irrational part of Tony’s brain. 

_“We need you to come in. Banner would like you here.”_

“Bruce is a smart boy, Nick.” 

_“We need you to come in.”_ Fury repeats, and Tony doesn’t think he’s going to get anywhere with this conversation. Fury was quick to jump into the whole ‘Tony Stark: Not Recommended’ idea until he needed Tony’s brain and his money and his property and his equipment and his- Tony sighs. 

“It’s been two months already, how do you know he’s still on Earth? Because-” 

“We don’t-”

“-I’m not the only one who saw the footage right? Loki teleporting in and out of the most secure room in the helicarrier?” In front of him, Loki closes his book in a single movement, seemingly done with the pretence of reading, and continues to stare at Tony. He casts a wary look at the god and continues, “I doubt that was his last rodeo.” 

_“I’m sure it won’t hurt you to confirm that we no longer have a crazy-ass god on our planet.”_

“It won’t hurt me. It may inconvenience me.” 

═════════════

_**July 23rd, 2012** _

“You sure you got this?” Maya asks, her right hand holding the Extremis injector inches away from the base of Tony’s neck. His head is bent downwards, giving her more access to his neck so she can inject it straight into his cervical nerves. 

“Seriously? You’re asking this now?” Tony cocks his head ever so slightly towards Maya.

“Yes. And you know what’s going to happen, right?” 

“Sorry, is my mother speaking through to you?” 

“Tell me.” She presses, her hand around his neck tightening ever so slightly. 

“Uh, body discharges the ‘waste’ in my genetic code; it comes out through my mouth, there’ll be blood- are you sure you’re staying for this? It’s not going to be a pretty sight.” He doesn’t even have to look at her face to confirm the roll of her eyes, judging by her very loud exhale that caused shivers at the back of his neck. A beat follows, and then: 

“Keep going.”

“Okay. Cardiac activity reduces following which I enter a coma, and I’ll be kept on life support and fed nutrients through a tube - you’ll do that, right?” Tony stops his narration mid-way again, much to Maya’s annoyance. 

“Sure.” Comes the not-so-assuring response. 

_“Wow-_ anyway. Skin breaks out - I bleed through my scabs, which - by the way - _gross._ My blood solidifies until I’m wrapped in a cozy little cocoon for three days, and I wake up good as new. Why are you making me say this anyway?” He finally asks her, and out of the corner of his eye, sees Loki appear in the middle of the room. The god doesn’t seem the least bit fazed at the scene in front of him - Tony helplessly in Maya’s grip while she’s all too eager to stab a syringe at the back of his neck. 

“Just so you know who did this to you,” comes Maya’s response, and it takes him a minute to register. 

“What does that- _ow!”_ There’s no warning from Maya as the syringe is plunged deep into his neck, and it’s only a moment before he feels the serum rushing through his body. 

“Give a guy a little warning, would ya?” Tony grits out, gripping onto either side of the chair. He can feel the serum pulsating against his veins, through his bloodstream, and _oh-_ up his food pipe and-

He vomits dark blood all over the floor. 

“Oh my,” Loki states, unfazed, just as Tony loses consciousness and collapses right beside his pool of blood.

═════════════

_**July 27th, 2012** _

Nothing could have prepared Tony for waking up inside a compact space in pitch darkness. He’s been in this position exactly twice, and both times, he’d been very close to death, so it’s certainly natural for him to freeze in place in _absolute terror._

“Tony?” There’s a muffled voice from somewhere above him, maybe Maya.

Oh, god. He’s still in the _damn cocoon._

He lifts his hand, placing it in the area above his chest, and pushes outward. He hadn’t really paused to consider the integrity of the cocoon, because his palms just thrusts straight through the now-crumbling layer. Bright light hits his face, and he blinks a few times until his vision adjusts. He moves, wiggling out of the compact space, arms pushing and tearing until the top half of the cocoon is in pieces on the floor. Vaguely aware that he’s shirtless, Tony looks at Maya, who had moved a few feet away during his escape attempt. “How’d you know I was awake?” 

“Your heart rate went up. Like, _really_ up,” she says, and then moves forward - cautiously, he notices - only to throw a t-shirt and sweatpants that smacks him right in the face. Loki appears out of thin air from behind her, and _god_ , the guy must have some kind of alarm because there’s no way his timing can be that perfect - _three_ times in a row. 

He pulls the t-shirt over his head, putting both his arms through, and is about to ask Maya why he needs the sweatpants when he realizes he’s not just shirtless. He’s buck naked. 

He distinctly remembers Maya saying something about any external objects deteriorating during the process. Oddly, his arc reactor is still intact. 

“Yeah, I freaked out a bit in there,” Tony answers as way of explanation, rubbing the area in his chest around the arc reactor before looking up. He takes the sweatpants in his hands and stares expectantly at the both of them. Maya takes the hint and has the decency to look away, but Loki just remains fixed in his position. 

“Hey. You mind?” Tony asks, motioning the god to turn. Only then does Loki look away, but Tony gets the feeling the god isn’t going to hold on to that long. He slips into his sweatpants, breaking the lower half of his body from the rest of the cocoon, and does so pretty well without accidentally flashing himself. It’s a task, but Tony’s been in more compromised positions before. 

“What day is it?” He asks once he’s done dressing, and a grim expression forms on Loki’s face.

“27th November.” The god answers, just before Maya can.

“ _What?”_

Maya’s too far away from Loki to smack him, so she just shoots him a look before turning to Tony. “It’s July. You were out for almost four days.” She takes another step closer to him. “How are you feeling?” 

“The same.” Tony pauses. “A little warm, actually. Is that just me?” 

“No,” Loki answers, “it’s me,” which goes ignored by the other parties in the room. 

“Yeah, that _may_ be the Extremis in your bloodstream.” Maya simpers, stepping around the pieces of his cocoon and standing beside Tony. 

“Huh. Feels like I’m lacking the usual… _flair_.” He says pointedly. It’s amusing to watch the double meaning register in Maya’s face. 

“Oh god,” She says, not even giving Tony the chance to be proud of his pun. “Okay, get up. We need to run some tests in case you end up overheating and burning down your entire building.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” Tony counters, standing up and flicking the remaining crumbs of the cocoon over his head. As he walks past her, he hears Maya groan. 

“I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?” 

═════════════

_**August 1st, 2012** _

“You’re all set. Your regeneration rate is 63% more than the average person. No side-effects.” Maya says, looking up at him from behind the computer. “Your body accepted Extremis like a dream.” 

She had Tony sitting on an electric phlebotomy chair, checking his heart rate and whatever-other-rate as she subjected him to varying levels of pain. His joke about being tortured didn’t go so well, with Maya responding with a rant of her own on how he could accuse her of such a thing when she was trying to ease him into the Extremis in his body. 

“Great, it only took us five days,” Tony sighs, sitting up from the chair and pulling out the knife pierced into his arm. This wasn’t even the worst of what Maya had done to test his limits, but whatever had happened, whether it being burnt alive or having the tip of pinky finger cut off - only for it to grow back in 2 days - Tony _felt_ stronger. Invincible, even. It was strange not having to exert himself anymore - not much, anyway, compared to Captain America, but Tony felt pretty up there.

“It would possible to harm him without killing him, then?” He overhears Loki ask Maya, which immediately earns a loud, rather useless, protest of a ‘ _hey!’_ from Tony. 

It goes ignored while Maya answers Loki with a positive confirmation. 

“Now that we’re done here,” Tony stands up, and two pairs of eyes turn his attention to him, “why don’t we get rid of the shrapnel instead of conspiring against me?” Maya smiles, and then there’s a flicker of a frown on her face. She focuses her attention back to the computer screen. 

“Why do you have shrapnel inside you?” Loki asks. It’s only the seventh time the last three months, all of which Tony had conveniently avoided from answering. 

“I ended up in the blast radius of one of my own bombs. This,” -he taps his reactor, “acts as a magnet to keep it from reaching my heart.” 

“I thought it was-”

Tony snorts, almost too defensively. “What, an accessory?”

2012 or 2023, it was always a sensitive subject for him. He wasn’t necessarily fond of presenting himself as vulnerable, especially when the reason was pieces of metal shrapnel the size of a fly. 

“No. A source of power for your armor.” 

“Yeah, that was an added benefit,” He mutters, just loud enough that Loki could hear it, but disinterested enough that Loki wouldn’t pursue it. “Didn’t really carve out my chest to be a human charger.” 

“Tony, we can’t do the surgery.” Maya finally looks up from the computer. Loki sneaks a glance at whatever’s on the screen. 

“Why the hell not?” Tony demands, pacing to where Maya and Loki are stood. Loki’s eyes flick up to him, and there’s something unreadable in his eyes. 

“Extremis deteriorates external objects.” She says, turning the computer screen around to face him. It’s an X-ray of his body, more specifically, his chest. “The shrapnel isn’t there anymore.” 

═════════════

_**August 7th, 2012** _

Tony returns to the penthouse three hours after he had left for lunch with Rhodey.

Loki and Maya are lounging on the couch, eyes fixed on the television. Neither of them look up as Tony walks in, not that Tony expected them to, anyway. Loki’s the first to speak. 

“Thor is on Midgard.” He says as a way of greeting, not even tearing his eyes away from the television. 

“How do you know that?” Tony asks, only realizing a second later that it was a stupid question to ask, seeing as how there’s live footage of Thor and some big spaceship on the television. That… doesn’t make sense. He was fairly sure Thor came down sometime November next year.

“Greenwich?” Tony asks, just to confirm, and _again,_ stupid move, because Maya turns to him, eyes narrowed into suspicious slits. 

“How do _you_ know that?” She asks, just as Loki turns to him almost dramatically slowly. 

“I’m from the future,” he answers. Any other scenario, it would have been a ridiculous answer, and would have gotten a playful roll of the eyes as a response, but with everything that she knows about Loki and Tony - along with whatever she’s picked up on in their conversations - Maya’s response is to just scrunch her face, almost contemplatively. Tony leaves her to her thoughts and turns to Loki. “He has the Reality Stone. We can either get it now, or we wait till he takes it to Asgard.” 

“Asgard,” Loki says, and yeah, that’s what Tony had been hoping too. It’s too risky for Loki to reveal himself on Earth anytime soon, and Tony’s demand for the Reality Stone would likely not sit well with Thor. If he wasn’t involved the first time it happened, he’s definitely not asking to be involved the second time around. Loki turns back to the television, and then: “Did I fight alongside him?” 

“Yeah,” Tony nods, distinctly remembering Thor telling them about Loki dying with ‘honor’ and all that. “Then, you kinda faked your death.” 

Loki’s lips pull into an amused smile, seemingly satisfied with the answer. 

“What do you mean you’re from the _future_?” Ah well, go big or go home. 

═════════════

_**August 20th, 2012** _

“Hold on. _You’re_ telling me that the entire world has been going batshit _crazy_ looking for Loki, while the guy’s been cooped up in your _penthouse?”_

“Rhodey, I just told you I’m from the _f_ _uture_.” 

“Just.” Rhodey breathes, raising his palms and splaying them in the space between them in a pause-motion. “One thing at a time.” 

“Still. It’s a matter of priority.” Tony points out, mock hurt. He’s seated opposite Rhodey in a corner booth at the far end of a restaurant, away from prying eyes or eavesdroppers. Which was why it was the perfect place to come clean with Rhodey. 

Telling it to Maya had felt like a partial weight of his chest, and telling it to Rhodey just got all the weight off of him. When all Rhodey does is bring his palms to his face with a heavy sigh, while dramatically dragging them down, Tony continues.

“I _told_ you the New York attack wasn’t his fault,” Tony repeats his statement from the first time Rhodey freaked out over the mention of Loki. “Bruce told me in the future that it wasn’t, told me that it was Thanos, and Loki _confirmed_ it. It wasn’t his fault - he’s just as innocent as Barton or Selvig.” 

“ _Innocent?_ God. _T_ _ones._ He led that damn attack! To an extent, he was functioning on his _own_ will. And letting him spend time with Hansen? Tony, she’s a civilian!You’re putting innocent-”

“She’s _safe!”_ Tony cuts off, his voice going embarrassingly high-pitched. "She’s in the safest building on the planet, _with_ the most resourceful people on the planet.” 

“That is not an _excuse!”_

“It’s the truth!” He shoots right back, and then after a moment wild-eyed eye contact, Tony levels his voice. “Listen. You gotta trust me on this. He’s not dangerous - he wants to beat Thanos just like the rest of us. He’s on our side.” 

Rhodey stares at him. A beat passes, and then another one. 

“So, you died?” Rhodey finally asks, and Tony had never been so grateful for the out. 

“Yeah, I used the Infinity Stones to snap him and his army away. I must have done something with the Time Stone though, because I died, and woke up 10 years in the past - right after I fell from the wormhole.”

“Where was…” Rhodey starts, trails off and then clears his throat. “Was I with you?” 

“Yeah,” Tony smiles ruefully, “fought right beside me.” The smile turns into something bitter. “God. I still have visions of your faces. It was the last thing I saw. Your faces when you realized that that was it. No more Tony Stark back from the dead. You, Pepper, Peter...” He trails off, and both men dwell in the heavy silence. A few moments later, Rhodey speaks.

“Pepper was there? And… who’s Peter?” 

“I made her a suit,” Tony explains. “Peter’s Spid- uh, you’ll meet him soon. Maybe. There’s… a lot of them actually. Not just the six Avengers, but more. Hundreds, _thousands._ Thanos didn’t stand a chance.” 

Rhodey whistles, bringing up the cup of coffee to his lips. “Sounds crazy.” 

“Yeah. Felt that way too,” Tony laughs. “Wanna hear something crazier?” 

“Craz _i_ _er?”_ His friend raises an eyebrow, almost like a challenge. Which, naturally, is something Tony doesn’t back down from. 

“I had a five-year-old daughter.” And Rhodey nearly spits out his coffee. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought of this chapter! I'd love to read your comments :)


	9. Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! I'm doing a few online courses, and they're taking up a majority of my time! :(

A few SHIELD agents nod their heads in acknowledgement as Tony passes by, which Tony returns just as curtly. He figures that at one point, he may have stopped for some small chit chat, would have taken a second to exchange an inside joke with that guy from operations, or just throw out some quick-witted remarks that would earn an amused laugh or two – but with everything that SHIELD had done to him (and with everything that SHIELD _is),_ Tony’s smart enough to keep his distance this time round. 

In the previous timeline, Fury and Co. had jumped at every opportunity to exploit Tony and his resources – even going so far as to dangle his inevitable death from palladium poisoning so that Tony would feel compelled to join their group of merry ‘resourceful’ misfits – and Tony had _let them,_ hadn’t he? Because, once upon a time, SHIELD stood for protecting the planet from enhanced beings, and it provided Tony with the means to start over from the whole weapons business. Instead of destroying lives and cities, he was _saving_ them instead. 

And then Sokovia happened. 

The whole idea of saving lives, doing _good,_ had crashed down on him, shattering the bubble he had created of saving lives without facing the repercussions. Because, in the end, it came down to the people they had rescued. Destruction of public property became somewhat of collateral damage. 

They needed to be kept in check, couldn’t risk something like Sokovia happening again, and Tony _knew_ that it was only a matter of time before history repeats himself. 

Unfortunately, some of his team members at the time weren’t entirely on board with being overseen — which was _funny_ , because, did they think SHIELD wasn’t watching their every move? That SHIELD wasn’t pulling at the little threads that influenced their actions? 

**_“Director Fury, Agent Hill and the Avengers are in Briefing Room 3. Thor and Dr. Banner don't seem to be on board the helicarrier.”_ **JARVIS’ voice comes out through Tony’s earpiece.

And, _unfortunately,_ three out of three members from the team currently in the briefing room hadn’t even hesitated to betray Tony. Sure, it’d be a few years from now, but what do they say about trying to straighten a dog's tail?

“Ah, well; it’ll still make for a grand entrance,” Tony says, turning the right towards where the briefing rooms are. He can see the silhouettes of the seated Avengers, heads moving in conversation with the infamous bald figure in a trench-coat. 

Tony pushes the door open, doesn’t even break the stride in his steps as he does so, and several pairs of eyes snap up to him. At the same moment, a hologram of the Tesseract disappears from right behind Fury.

Tony’s not even surprised. 

“Stark,” Fury says, and he doesn’t sound pleased at all. There’s a wariness in his words as if he doesn’t quite know why Tony’s decided to show up all of a sudden. 

“Oh, good. At least your functional eye is… functional.” Tony turns to the table, and his gaze unconsciously meets Rogers’. He looks away. 

“How's the hunt for Rock of Ages?” 

Nobody answers. 

"Okay, humor me for a second. You've been dying for my input the last few months and now that you're getting it – _me –_ free-of-charge, you want to, what, just take the ball and go home?”

Romanoff breaks her stare from Tony and looks at Fury, who nods ever so slightly – apparently granting permission for whatever she’s going to say. 

"Heimdall has reason to believe Loki's not on Earth anymore." She says, leaning back on her chair. Her body language indicates pure nonchalance, like revealing the little tidbit isn’t an important piece of information at all. Unfortunately for her, Tony’s had not a few days, but several _years_ of experience in this terrain, which is why he instantly notices her sharp gaze that’s trained on Tony’s – looking to capture even the smallest reaction. 

"Heimdall?” Tony asks, pulling on a mask of mild surprise; because, though it’s a name he’s heard before, it’s not a name 2012 Tony Stark would be privy to. He looks around, finally settling on Fury. “Did SHIELD get hold of a crystal ball?" 

"He's the Gatekeeper of Asgard,” Fury answers. “According to Thor, the guy can see everything." 

“Seriously? My life must be a fast-paced porno for the guy.” Nobody laughs, save for maybe a small smile from Barton. It’s not that Tony expected them to react, anyway. It was too optimistic of him to think they’d get over his disappearing act so soon.

“I'm surprised you're here, Stark,” Romanoff cuts in, amused and languid – it’s a deflection if he’s ever seen one. “What's wrong – world too slow to keep up?” There's a hint of a smile playing on her face like she expects Tony to succumb to her coy quips and suggestive smiles. 

“Am I not welcome? I thought being SHIELD’s sugar daddy granted me special privileges.” 

“Great, now I have that image in my head,” Barton mutters. 

“Don’t sweat it, Katniss; I know you’re committed.” Barton stills, and Romanoff's gaze flickers from Tony to Barton – and it only lasts for a brief second before she covers for him. 

“You've ghosted us for the last 4 months.” She says, and Tony rounds on Fury, expression graced with mock offense. He can feel Barton still watching him, mind probably whirring with the possibility that Tony might know about his family, or if it was just an offhanded comment. 

“Hey, I answered your call that one time.” 

“Tony," Rogers says, speaking for the first time since Tony's walked in. Honestly? He's missed the underlying tone of disapproval that lines Rogers' words every time he talks to Tony. It's a rare thing; that. "Your place in the Avengers had been reconsidered during your absence. I'm afraid you're not a part of the team anymore.” 

That was… unexpected. But whether it’s a ploy or an actual agreement was up for debate, even though anyone with common sense knows that it’s their loss. 

“Spoiler alert, I never was.” Tony looks around the room, and he spots the slight turn of disapproval in Fury’s lips. Ah well, it’s on him for relying on Captain America. Tony turns to Rogers. “Seriously, I’m hurt. You never read my file? Tony Stark not recommended?” 

Rogers’ jaw clenches, icy blue eyes leveling Tony with a scornful glare. "Yeah, I've heard about your self-destructive tendencies. Wasn't that why you were only a consultant?"

“Steve—” Romanoff flicks her gaze in Rogers’ direction, but before she can say anything more, Tony interrupts. 

"I'd like to take this moment to point out that said consultant happened to save New York from being a radiated wasteland.” He flashes his signature winning smile at Rogers. “How’s that for self-destructive?" 

"That was a responsibility,” Rogers retaliates. It seems to be his go-to word during his efforts to shut down Tony. “Anyone of us would have done it, had we the means."

“Responsibility?” Tony repeats, unable to resist the derisive laugh that escapes him. “We're still on this? Let's resume this when you've actually caught Loki.” When Rogers doesn’t respond, and it doesn’t look like he will, Tony shifts his attention to Fury. “Speaking of which, where's Thor?"

"Following a lead in Europe.” 

"What; like the whole continent?" Tony asks, moving to sit on a vacant seat. 

"Details are classified,” Fury says, just as JARVIS speaks into Tony’s earpiece. 

"I’ll bet.” Tony shrugs in obvious nonchalance. “I hear Norway's pleasant this time of year. Northern Lights and all." 

He relishes the moment Rogers’ jaw goes slack. Tony spins a 360 **°** on the chair, much to the other’s annoyance, before coming to an abrupt stop to directly face Fury. 

“I gotta ask, if the Tesseract is with Loki, and Loki’s not on Earth, why are you still tracking the Tesseract?” 

Fury sighs, like he’s given up on trying to keep information from Tony. There’s only a number of times one can try before they go insane. “Dr. Banner has informed us of bursts of energy similar to those emitted from the Tesseract. Loki may not be on Earth, but the Tesseract definitely is, which leads us to believe he may be working with someone."

"And Norway seemed like the ideal place?" Tony asks, only slightly worried that he may have underestimated SHIELD – okay, no, he’s correctly estimated SHIELD, but he may have underestimated Bruce. Last time, it was through the combined efforts of Tony and Bruce and a certain Sceptre that allowed them to track the Tesseract, and the locations were still largely approximate. But then again, four months of being pressurized by SHIELD can change a person. 

"One of many,” Fury answers as vaguely as he can. “Thor is most equipped to fight Loki in case of a confrontation." 

Tony snorts. “Yeah, you can say that again.” 

The Loki they knew was a Loki who was severely holding back from showing off his capabilities, and their rendition of Loki just barely scratched the surface of whatever Tony had witnessed the last few months. So yeah, at present, Thor might be _more_ equipped compared to the rest of the team, but in reality, Thor will never be equipped _enough._

“Was there a reason you decided to visit?” Fury asks after a long moment of silence, rephrasing Romanoff’s previous question. If there’s one thing that SHIELD agents have in common, it’s their desperate need to fulfil their curiosity, and as far as the whole saying goes, they’re rarely satisfied with the answers. It’s about time they get the hint. 

“Not really, no,” Tony says and casts a pronounced look around the table. Rogers is schooling his signature frown, Romanoff is as blank-faced as ever and Barton is – well – staring right back at Tony. “It’s weird, but I swear it’s like nobody wants me here.” 

“You can’t just expect to come and go as you please. Your responsibility—” –again with the damn _responsibility._ “—as an Avenger isn’t a part-time job—"

"Wasn't." Tony corrects, and Rogers stops mid-speech.

"What?"

"You said isn't,” Tony clarifies. “Present tense. Didn’t you say I'm not a part of the team anymore?"

There’s a quick glance at Fury, and some form of silent communication between the two before Rogers sighs. "It's unofficial," Rogers finally says, looking like he hated every syllable of it. 

"Is that another word for I’m-Captain-America-and-I-make-the-decisions?" Tony asks. It was meant to be an innocuous quip, but it only takes him another moment to realize he wasn’t that far from the truth, mainly because of the sudden shift in Rogers’ expression. 

Sure, Tony may have often been accused of being self-absorbed, but he’s also smart enough to know he’s right about the fact that, forget Fury, but not even Pierce or the WSC would risk Iron Man being on a team that’s not under their control. 

“Wait a minute. You're telling me the World Security Council doesn't know about Iron Man being kicked off of the Avengers?” 

The silence is response enough. Tony can’t resist the delight seeping into his face. 

“Oh, god. This is hilarious.” Tony slams both palms on the table and pushes himself back in his chair, which rolls a few inches before coming to a stop. It’s enough, because now he doesn’t have to keep craning his neck to look around the room. “Nick, I can't believe you thought this would actually work. _Unbelievable_ . You _need_ me. _SHIELD_ needs me. Because the next time a nuclear missile is launched, or the helicarrier is under attack, or even if a damn AI wants to annihilate the world, and I’m not around – thanks to Cap’s well-thought decision here – you better hope someone up there has you in their good graces.” 

Rogers, naturally, doesn’t back down. So he switches tactics. "You were absent for four months, Stark. We’re soldiers, and we’re expected to know each other well enough so we can use it to our advantage during battle – especially when we deal with situations most people cannot. So, if you're not going to work with the team, we can't work with you."

"And all this time, I assumed the reason you didn’t like me was because of Romanoff’s report. But, nope, it’s just because you didn’t know me.” Tony says, and Rogers purses his lips in frustration – no doubt thinking of another way to approach the situation.

“Seriously, I need to speak to someone in charge,” Tony announces, spinning his chair to face Fury. “C’mon, don't tell me you were so helpless you had to delegate authority to this guy.” 

“There’s no need to be hostile,” Fury says. 

“Hostile? I’m not hostile. Jarv, am I being hostile?” 

**_“No, sir.”_ **JARVIS’ voice enters the room through the overhead speakers. Fury shoots a glare and Hill, who immediately ducks her head to her tablet, and starts tapping away – presumably trying to get JARVIS out of their system. 

“Sorry, I got the feeling the rest of you would be biased,” Tony shrugs, just as Rogers stands up in one swift motion. There was no sound of his movement, but the intention in itself was loud enough. 

_“Put on the suit; let’s go a few rounds.”_

There’s a brief second where Tony’s tenses. 

_“I don't trust a guy without a dark side. Call me old fashioned.”_

_“Well let's just say you haven't seen it yet,” Steve had said, and it was a challenge which Tony had easily glossed over at the time._

“There’s no need to act all high and mighty, Stark.” He leans over the table, looking down at Tony with a fixed glare. “We’re all on the same page, and we have a common enemy; the sooner we work together, the sooner we get this done with.” 

_“Don't bullshit me, Rogers! Did you know?”_

_“Yes.”_

“Loki has an agenda, and by the looks of it, the Tesseract is his priority. Which makes finding it _our_ priority. And that’s not going to change, whether you like it or not. So, it's in your best interest to prioritize your actions accordingly.” 

_“This isn't gonna change what happened.”_

_“I don't care. He killed my mom.”_

“You’re giving me a choice?” Tony asks, eyes wide in incredulity. “Hate to break it to you, Cap, but my plate’s full. You’re not getting anything from me.” 

_“I got nothing for you, Cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar.”_

“You know, I only came here to—” 

Steve cuts him off. “So – what? You’re just going to act like the world doesn’t need saving? Like your selfish interests are above everything else?” 

_Yeah, just wait till Bucky Barnes comes into the picture, Captain Hypocrite,_ is what Tony _wants_ to say, but all he does is respond with a curt “Yep.” 

Tony stands, buttoning his blazer as he glances around the room. “Anyway, as I was saying before I was very rudely interrupted—,” –he shoots a pointed glance in Rogers' direction. “—seriously, I can give you a manual on good behavior – I only came here to check if SHIELD hasn’t burned down their flying fortress. There’s like—” Tony squints. “—30 billion dollars worth of Stark equipment onboard, helicarrier included.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll call you when that happens.” 

“Woah – _when_ that happens? Balls of steel, Nick!” Tony moves to clap him on the shoulder, but Fury doesn’t even budge. “But seriously, don’t call me. I’m going out of the country.” 

Rogers moves. It’s so quick Tony doesn’t even have time to dodge the sudden, blood-constricting grip around his arm. It doesn’t hurt as much as he had expected, and he takes a moment to thank Extremis before slapping Rogers’ hand away. His eyes flick up from the slapped hand to Tony, an irate frown pulling at his brows. 

“You can’t just leave,” Rogers says, using a tone that may or may not be an attempt to assert his authority. 

“What, you’re gonna stop me?” Tony straightens, jutting his chin out in challenge, but he’s still a head below Rogers. 

“I might,” Rogers counters. 

“I’d like to see you try,” Tony says, not even missing a beat. _Your move, Rogers._

Rogers stares at him, eyes narrowed in thought, before he finally shows his hand. “Howard would have hated you.” The words come out his mouth in full triumph, like he’d actually landed the one blow that would make Tony Stark comply. 

“You’re about 20 years late with that one,” Tony dismisses flippantly, turning to the rest of the team and jerking a thumb at Rogers. “See? _Hostile.”_

“What if we need to reach you?” Romanoff asks. Apparently the whole interaction between him and Rogers had just flown over her head. 

“You can’t,” Tony answers simply, stepping aside from Rogers’. He moves to the door, and in an afterthought, adds; “Don’t worry, I’ll send you a postcard.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up, our favorite pair's headed to Nidavellir. :D


	10. Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the lovely comments! I'll respond as soon as I can :D  
> Meanwhile, enjoy some Frostiron!

Tony stares at Maya through the rear-view mirror, half expecting her to break into a laugh and assure them that she was only joking. He switches his attention back on the road before looking at her partial face reflecting back at him, continuing to flick back and forth until finally—

“You’re kidding me,” he says. Maya offers no response, save for her brows pulling into a frown. Tony looks over at Rhodey sitting shotgun, like he could offer some of his logical perspective on why Maya _should_ be kidding, and his friend is all but staring out the window and pretending like something outside suddenly caught his attention. 

Nice try on that, considering there’s nothing around for miles.

Tony turns back to the road.“I’m giving you exclusive rent-free living privilege in my penthouse – science-y resources, commendable porn stash, unlimited booze and really, need I go on? – and _you,_ Miss Hansen, want to come with us on what is, quite literally, a suicide mission?” 

Maya huffs an impatient breath, crossing her arms across her chest defensively like _Tony_ was the one being irrational. 

Five months.

 _Five_ months of working on modifying the quinjet for space travel, _five_ months of planning and going through their modus operandi a million times over, and she decides to pull the pin off of the grenade during Tony’s last few minutes on Earth before the trip.

“C’mon, Tony,” she says, shifting slightly so that her entire _I-am-serious_ expression reflects back at him through the rear-view mirror. She motions to Loki beside her, “ _This_ guy’s a god, and _you_ have a near-indestructible suit of armor, not to mention Extremis coursing through your veins. I’ll be the safest I can be.” Her eyes narrow in bold determination. “I want in.”

Loki, thankfully, speaks up before Tony can drop his brain-to-mouth filter and yap away at why she can’t _possibly_ come. Thing is, Tony’s been in space, and so has Loki – and they’re both somewhat aware of who they’re going up against. Any bumps (read: severe trauma, near-death experience etcetera) along the way, which there _will be_ , would be bumps that Tony and Loki can manage and/or work on. Hopefully. 

“I’m afraid you just can’t _want in_ , love,” Loki says airily, like he’s talking to a petulant child but can’t be bothered enough to reason with her. If not Rhodey, at least Loki’s kind enough to agree with Tony. 

Wait – did he just call Loki kind? 

Maya glares at Loki before fixating on Tony with the same glare. “Tony.”

“Maya,” Tony replies in the same tone, eyes fixed on the road. 

“I can help,” she pushes, adamant on at least putting up some kind of a disagreement when Tony’s sure that even she knows they can’t just whisk her away to space. 

Thing is, she’s not wrong about being able to help. But the _thing_ is, Tony knows better.

Maya was never a part of this equation in the first place; Maya had _died_ before any of this could even begin, and Tony’s not risking whatever fate or karma there is in the universe by putting her smack in the middle of danger. If god forbid, something goes wrong, Tony becomes responsible, and coping with guilt is not one of his strong suits. Not to forget that he doesn’t even know how many laws of fate or laws of _whatever the fuck_ karma he’s broken just by interfering in her death, and how much he’s fucked up the timeline. For all he knows, Thanos could show up on good ol’ planet Earth next month. 

“You can help _here,”_ Tony says, flashing her a look through the mirror. Beside him, Rhodey pulls out his phone, as if there isn’t a full-fledged disagreement going on in his immediate vicinity. Tony shoots him a glance. “Seriously?” 

Rhodey looks up at him, and then promptly goes back to his phone. “Out of sight, out of mind.” 

Tony sighs. He turns back to Maya, who’s still staring at him through the mirror, before shifting his attention back to the road. “We’ve gone over this. I need you to take care of things here, _and_ we’ll need someone to communicate with.” He shoots her a brief glance. “Loki might miss you.” 

“Only because she is better company.” Tony, although not necessarily pleased with the jab, thanks Loki for the distraction. 

“That hurt.” Tony sneaks a quick glance behind him to a smug-faced Loki. The god had a habit of finding amusement in ticking whatever box he could conjure that would direct Tony’s attention to him. “I’m not talking to you for the next ten minutes.” 

“How unfortunate,” Loki hums, sounding anything but displeased. Rhodey snorts, eyes still fixed on his phone. So much for _‘out of mind.’_

“You know I’ll be a good help onboard,” Maya speaks up again after a lengthy silence, still insistent. “You’ll be better help off-board," Tony counters, turning towards the road that leads them to the warehouse. “Maya, I’m serious. I know what I’m signing up for, and Loki– okay, granted, Loki doesn’t necessarily know _but_ he’s the only one here who can shapeshift into Thor. I'm not letting you blindly waltz into this. Not when it’s _space_ – really, if it was anywhere but space, you can come. Bahamas, Hawaii – wherever. Hell, _Atlantis_ , if you want.” 

“Suppose something happens to you?” Maya asks. 

“Or _Loki?”_ is voiced out by said god which promptly goes ignored. Maya ignores mostly because, well, she has other matters to focus on rather than a self-absorbed god, but Tony – _Tony_ ignores because the reality of it lies heavy in his heart.

It’s been hard enough to hide it from a mind-reading god for the past five months, _god_ knows he knows the repercussions of keeping the truth from someone who’s directly affected. He knows the spike of betrayal, the unshakable feeling of guilt of what _Tony_ did wrong that he couldn’t be trusted with information so precious, of an event so close to his heart and shaped his identity in ways that he cannot even put into words. He knows the feeling, and he wouldn’t want to impose it on anybody had he the choice. And as much as he tries to convince himself that what happened was in a previous timeline that faded to dust the moment Tony arrived back in 2012 New York, Tony _knows_ he’s in the wrong for keeping it from Loki. It was something that _happened_ , after all, and it was just as real as anything or anyone else in that timeline. 

And yet, because _yes,_ sometimes he’s _selfish,_ Tony keeps mum about Loki’s fate. Because the Loki he knows now no longer fears Thanos, because Thanos can bleed, and that means Thanos can be _defeated._ And if Loki finds out about his fate, at the hands of his torturer nonetheless, Tony worries that Loki may start to second guess his every move, every flick of his wrist, every mutter of a spell. For someone like Loki, second-guessing himself may very well be his downfall.

Tony could never forgive himself if he lets that happen. 

“It won’t," Tony assures. _Not anytime soon, anyway._ "But if something _does_ , you can, I don’t know, sell my furniture. But not the painting in the living room. I like that one.” 

Maya huffs out a laugh. “Well, you’ll be dead, what are you gonna do, stop me?” 

“Might haunt you.” 

“I’ll take that chance,” Maya says just as Tony pulls into the warehouse. 

There are a few trusted engineers on his payroll scattered around the quinjet, going once, twice, _thrice_ through its operations and structure with a fine-toothed comb. Tony isn’t overly eager to end up stranded in space for a second time, especially when it can be avoided on his part. 

The lead engineer makes his way towards the car as it slows to a stop, reaching Tony right as he gets out of the car.

“Rick,” Tony says over the sound of the car doors slamming shut, Maya’s a little louder than necessary. “How’s it hanging?” 

“DOOFUS is fully functional and ready for flight, Mr. Stark.” 

"Music to my ears,” Tony says as the pair of them start walking towards DOOFUS. Rick’s been in the company for as long as Tony could remember, and the man hadn’t been necessarily fond of Obie either, so naturally, after the whole eye-opening situation with his _oh-so-trustworthy_ business partner slash father figure, Rick ended up in Tony’s _really_ good books. Which is how Rick had Tony’s trust in most things, especially when most things had to be operated under SHIELD’s radar. “And the reactor? Not a fan of ending up in the wrong dimension. Or _timeline_ , for that matter. Been there, still doing it." 

Rick smiles, not entirely familiar with the implication, but letting Tony dwell on his remark anyway. 

"In theory, it will work as expected,” Rick says, as they come to a stop in front of DOOFUS. He nods at one of the mechanics in the distance, and then looks at Tony. “There’s absolutely no room for error."

"Didn’t take it for a joyride?" Tony jokes.

Rick shrugs, and then smiles languorously. "It comes down to us returning an aircraft with the potential to carry us to the ends of the universe in a single second."

"Well, when you put it that way," Tony grins, watching Maya in conversation with one of the engineers as Loki stands beside her, arms clasped behind his back and chest puffed out in all his godly superiority. 

Rhodey comes up beside him just as Rick excuses himself to answer a call. 

"Doofus,” Rhodey says. “You named your ship doofus."

Tony nods. “Daddy’s Own Object For Uncharted Space."

Rhodey doesn’t even react, he’s too used to this. Instead, he just claps Tony on the back, nodding like he should have seen that backronym coming. 

  
  


"Try not to die," Rhodey says, releasing him from the hug that lasted all of ten seconds. He doesn’t blame the guy – maybe Rhodey hasn’t had the fortune to experience it, but the last time Tony went to space, he’d almost died, and like that wasn’t enough, he was stranded in space for _three weeks._ So yes, a longer-than-average hug was justified. 

Or at least, that’s what Rhodey said when Maya passed a comment about getting a room. But Tony knows better – James Rhodes is a hugger, almost as much as Tony is. 

But the truth is, Rhodey's comment opens up a whole new sector of raw, pulsating anxiety. Rhodey meant it as a joke, like an _as-if-it-isn't-already-obvious_ statement – but the accuracy of it hits Tony harder than a freight train. 

How many times has he _tried not to die_ , but ended up at the brink of death anyway? He saw death in Afghanistan, saw it when Obie paralyzed him and took out the arc reactor from his chest, saw it when he was already dying of palladium poisoning and Vanko very nearly sliced him in half, and he saw it – had it flash right in front of his eyes, to be precise – when Loki threw him off of his building. 

Granted, when he carried the nuke into the portal, he was almost ready to embrace death, but _still_ , he lived, and that's as close as a brush to death as any. 

He saw death when the Mandarin launched the attack in his Malibu home, where he was at the brink of getting crushed by tonnes of concrete and rubble underwater. He saw death in the form of his friend, his teammate, in the form of a man his father had taken pride in knowing, while his father's own creation was brought down and rammed deep into his chest. At that very moment, he feared death in all its forms. Feared it to his very core. Pun intended. 

He feared dying in a frozen, abandoned bunker – alone, and bleeding out of every crevice in his body because he made the mistake of trusting Steve Rogers. He saw death, and he was prepared for it when Thanos impaled him with a part of his own suit, he was prepared while his oxygen ran out on the _Benetar_ , and _goddamnit_ was he prepared when he held all six Infinity Stones in his hand. 

Really, given his history, death was like a sexual partner who _just_ couldn't get enough of foreplay. 

"I'll try not to get _killed_ – dying is a big term,” Tony says, suddenly remembering that he was yet to answer Rhodey. He waves a hand, making it just the right amount of casual so that it hides the tremble of his hand. “Natural causes etcetera." 

Rhodey makes a face. "Try not to joke about inevitable death."

_If only he could tell death to try not to joke about his life._

"It would be fun to watch," Loki almost singsongs as he grazes past them and into the quinjet, Maya matching pace right alongside him. 

"Fun to watch what?” Tony calls out to Loki’s retreating back which soon disappears. “Fun to watch _what?!"_

Rhodey snorts. He does a once-over of DOOFUS' exterior before taking the last few steps and stopping at the ramp, eyes travelling as he takes it in the interior. "At least it still looks more or less like a quinjet.” 

“Yeah, figured SHIELD probably has eyes everywhere outside the vicinity,” Tony says. “Since Fury can’t stop SHIELD’s tech guy from _testing_ their soon-to-be equipment, all we have to do is fly until we're out of SHIELD's sight and… like the kids say, poof."

"Poof," Loki repeats into his ear, popping up right beside him. To his luck, and to Loki’s dismay, Tony doesn’t move a muscle. When it comes to dealing with the likes of a pain-in-the-ass who has a habit of vanishing and showing up unannounced, Tony’s had experience. 

Five months of experience, to be precise, which feels more like a lifetime as far as Loki’s concerned. 

"Wait,” Tony pulls out his phone, and Loki, clearly not amused at Tony’s lack of reaction, scowls. Tony sticks his phone between them, microphone facing Loki. “Say that again. For science."

The scowl only deepens, green eyes narrowed into slits. "No."

  
  


The take-off goes smoother than expected – it’s still a quinjet, after all. Tony knows how to operate one like the back of his hand. On the other hand, Loki’s interest in “flying contraptions” seemed to have crossed over from theory to practical by now, sharp green eyes tracking every push of a button and every flick of a switch until Tony started to feel conscious and promptly switched to autopilot. 

Loki’s eyes follow Tony as he moves away from the control panel. There’s a question evident at the tip of Loki’s tongue, ready to spill as easy as a puff of breath, but maybe he finds some sense of respect towards the pilot that Loki – _Loki!_ – actually hesitates. 

“Do you… do you not need someone to fly this?” 

“I do. I have,” Tony says, relishing in keeping his response as vague as possible. A confused Loki is a wonderful thing to be an audience to, and in the same way that Loki enjoys confusing Tony with magic, Tony has his own area of experience with science. And really, Tony’s confusion on the workings of magic is explained with his own logical response that it’s just abracadabra, whereas Loki actually _wants_ answers. 

Loki, apparently realizing he’s not getting anything else from Tony, scowls and looks out the windshield. 

Ten minutes pass by of Loki wordlessly staring out at the Atlantic Ocean and Tony sneaking occasional glances at a certain god, until Tony finally clears his throat. Loki looks at him, doing the bare minimum to face him. 

"You ready?" Tony asks. Unless SHIELD has some kind of base in the middle of the ocean that Tony Stark, part-time SHIELD hacker, does not know about, this is probably the safest place to create a portal and dissipate a quinjet in midair without raising a few eyebrows. 

"Are _you_?" Loki counters, just as Tony comes to stand beside Loki, who returns to staring out the windshield. He’s about to ask him what is so amusing about never-ending blue, until he realizes it’s comforting as any, because at _least_ it isn’t never-ending space. There’s Loki’s history with the Void, and Tony’s history with, well, space. He stops the shiver from running down his spine. Loki continues to speak. “Not to, ah, toot my own horn, but out of the two of us, I do have some experience with teleportation.”

"You know what, if you're gonna put me on the spot like that, I’ll just save us both the embarrassment and-" Tony starts, the beginning of an anxious ramble because suddenly, his mind is racing with thoughts and fears of _what if this doesn't work_? but Loki cuts him off just as easily. Tony doesn't know if it's because Loki sensed the nervousness and offered a distraction or if he's just a pain in the ass or both. 

"And here I believed it was a yes or no question."

"Your beliefs aren't all that reliable." Tony pounces on the opportunity to divert the conversation elsewhere, anywhere but their probable doom – _not_ one of his proudest moments. 

"I do believe you're right," comes the conceited response, and Tony’s impressed _and_ annoyed that he hadn’t seen that coming. 

"As I was _saying_ before my authenticity was put into question, we're officially in the middle of the Atlantic,” Tony asks, side-eyeing Loki as his hands hover over the navigation panel. “Any last words?"

“You are taking a big risk,” Loki says, and _yup, a reality check is exactly what’s been missing the entire time._ Tony’s quick to push away that thought, not wanting to deal with Loki resorting to his pesky habit of reading Tony’s face like an open book. Unfortunately for him, his chakras are _not_ aligned.

“Oh dear, you looked like a kicked canine—”

“—puppy.”

“Yes,” Loki says in a deadpan way that implies he’s hardly bothered about the correction. Or _interruption,_ as Loki would put it. “And it was not an insult, Anthony, I admire you for taking this risk.” 

“It’s only a risk if I wasn’t sure of my skills as an engineer,” Tony points out matter-of-factly. “But I am, so.” 

"I don't doubt your capabilities either, if it's any consolation." Loki actually _smiles –_ and, _weirdly_ , it's a smile with none of his signature arrogance.

Tony shoots him a wary glance, expecting the god to follow up with a contradictory statement that is the Earth equivalent or _'... not!'_ When there's no change or even a flicker in Loki's expression, Tony speaks. "That's… oddly comforting. Weird." He looks away, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Now stay put. Experienced or not, I'm not cleaning up your vomit."

"I forget you are so versed in the aftereffects of teleportation." Following which, Loki, the son of a _bitch,_ actually pauses for the dramatic effect. He cocks his head, a corner of his lip pulling into a condescending smile. "Oh. Wait."

"Fine then,” Tony waves a hand as if mentally dissipating Loki and the current conversation away from his mind. “Do the tango for all I care."

"It takes two to tango." 

"Oh, for Gods'- Are you _flirting?_ Right _now_? I'm about to possibly _kill_ us both and you want to flirt?" 

"I was providing a counter argument," Loki says, chin raised in pure snobbishness like Tony isn't suddenly worth his time or effort. "You need not get ahead of yourself."

Tony doesn't bother with a reply. Really – talking to Loki is like digging his own conversational grave. It's the fact that _Tony’s_ always been the last to finish a conversation, always had the last word, because once you combine wit and intellect and apply it in just the right ways, like Tony has practically groomed himself to, it becomes hard to match up in a conversation with him. 

But _now,_ with Loki in the picture, for the first time since as long as he could remember, Loki's the one with the last word. Loki's the one who spots every tiny detail, spots the tiniest of expressions in Tony's face, and deciphers Tony's words in ways that Tony hadn't even expected. And in a way that’s easy as breathing, there have been several instances where Loki’s one-upped Tony and left him fumbling with a response to intricately thought out comments. 

And _no_ , Tony hasn’t given up on regaining his dignity, but baby steps. He has more important matters to deal with than replying to Loki who's just as likely to shoot him down for the nth time, essentially starting a never-ending cycle of embarrassment. 

Tony plugs in the approximate coordinates for Nidavellir, or what he _believes_ to be approximate. Tony has absolutely no scientific data to base it off of, except for a vague idea of the direction and distance from Earth to Nidavellir – courtesy of tall, snark, and irksome. Considering Loki’s ability to teleport depends on him envisioning said place, Tony can’t really tell his navigation system to imagine Nidavellir. 

Loki helped, sure, in the sense that help came in the form of a statement that it’s a dying star in a whole universe of dying stars. 

"In the nicest way I can convey this to a pain in the ass:” Tony presses a few keys and confirms the coordinates. “Buckle up."

He waits. 

There’s no _woosh_. 

There’s no turbulence and there’s not even the sickening, stomach-lurching feeling he experienced from that one time Loki teleported him from New York to Malibu because _he felt like it_. The sky in front of them wavers, like the hot air around a burning flame, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure that their destination is right in front of them, across this shaky pool of distortion. Tony maneuvers the quinjet forward – slowly, like it would actually make a difference if on the other side there’s a black hole just waiting to consume them. 

The sky… is no longer the sky. For starters, it’s not blue and that’s more than enough a hint that they’re in space. There’s only blackness around them, and a few floating objects in the distance that all but defies gravity.

Right. Gravity. 

"What the hell.” He's only had two or three experiences to fall back on, but he's fairly sure he's in space. And alive. 

“That's Nidavellir," Loki says from beside him, looking somewhere to the left, and apparently not as fazed as Tony. Tony follows his gaze. "You did it.”

“What the hell,” Tony repeats his previous statement once he takes in the sight of what Loki's looking at. It’s an actual _fucking_ star. There’s a bright ball of pulsating energy, glowing with shades of purple, and blue, and orange, and golden and just– _radiating pure energy._ They’re not that close to it, but close enough that Tony can spot what looks like gigantic metal rings circumferencing the star. 

It’s absolutely _beautiful._

Loki turns to him, and Tony doesn't have to look to know, but he gets the feeling there's a raised eyebrow targeted at him. “Has space impacted your vocabulary?” 

“Loki," Tony says, still staring at the star that’s all but consuming his vision with unfiltered brightness. 

“That is my name, yes.”

“We’re in space." Tony figures he sounds quite dumb to Loki, but he doesn’t even care at the moment. The reactor _worked._ He’s in space, and Loki didn’t even have to pull out the Tesseract from his _damn_ pocket dimension. "We did it.” 

“You did," Loki emphasizes. 

“You helped," Tony corrects."You should take some credit. At least 20% of it.” Tony’s attention is drawn back to the star. Didn’t Loki say this Nidavellir is the heart of a _dying_ star? Dying as in, ceasing to exist given enough time, which means that this is not even a _fraction_ of the real thing. 

Holy crap.

“Are you planning to remain idle here or are you taking us to Nidavellir?” Loki asks after a short while, apparently having enough of Tony’s fanboy moments. 

“I’m thinking,” Tony says. The sight of Nidavellir is absolutely overwhelming, and he can’t imagine being a dwarf and working right underneath it without getting distracted every alternate second. Sparks of energy continue to fly out of the star, projecting the kind of energy Tony would never have thought he’d come across. And seriously, the damn Asgardian standing right next to him didn’t even hesitate to downplay Nidavellir as _just_ a dying star. 

Loki sighs in his signature overly dramatic fashion. “Wonderful.” 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only proofread this like twice, so please let me know if you spot any errors! :)


	11. Eleven

They land not too far away from the forge, close enough that they can make a quick escape should things turn south but far enough that they don’t seem like hostiles barging in on private property. 

That’s Tony’s understanding of Loki’s instruction anyway. He doesn’t know the first thing about spaceship etiquette – that is, if such a thing even exists (it’s not like he could get a manual) – which is why he’s left with no choice but to rely on Loki’s dismissive “here will do.” 

Loki exits the quinjet first, eyes scanning across the surroundings and doing what Tony assumes is a god’s version of reconnaissance. Tony steps in right beside him, looking him down. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be Thor?” And just like that, a wave of bright green runs down Loki’s body. 

“I am,” comes the response, equipped with the all too familiar signature gruff. He doesn’t wait for an answer – not that Tony had one in the first place – instead continues to walk ahead. Tony’s eyes follow him, observing. 

As much as Loki looks exactly like Thor, there’s no missing the small movements that are signature to Loki. The raised chin that’s all but a way of showing his superiority over the petty things around him, a bored look in his eyes which makes one think Loki’s indifferent to his surroundings when in reality, the calculation in his eyes is just hidden below the surface. Though his steps are heavier while in Thor’s form, there’s no mistaking his languid way of movement, like he’s controlling his body just enough to make it seem effortless and natural. Loki unclasps his hands from where they rested at the base of his back, an illusion of Mjolnir forming on his right hand as he swings it with little to no effort. 

He’s still looking around, strangely wary of his surroundings, but Tony figures that’s just how Loki is. One can never be too careful, and Loki has most likely learnt that as a lesson several times in his thousand years of being a trickster. 

They’re walking through an array of scattered tools and gigantic metal structures that Tony can’t even begin to imagine a purpose for except for just being huge and endearing. He makes mental notes on his immediate surroundings, taking in the intricate details and designs of weapons and equipment that are strewn around the place – like they couldn’t even be _worth_ as much as Tony knows they are – and sets the images aside for some future inspiration. There are slabs of varying sizes used as what Tony presumes to be their worktables, going by the number of unfamiliar metals and tools scattered over the surfaces. There are tools he’s never seen before, tools that Tony can’t even imagine a purpose for, if not for a far impressive weapon. 

It’s blacksmith heaven.

Tony’s fingers are twitching at his sides, eager to lay his hands on _anything,_ really, and just get the sense of their inner workings and purpose. If they weren’t running on the deadline they were on, Tony wouldn’t have minded spending a few months here. Plus, he had DOOFUS – he could just go and come back whenever he was needed. Not a lot of people would be okay with Tony Stark going MIA for an unprecedented amount of time. 

It feels strangely overwhelming walking amid a version of crafted tools and equipment that practically shaped him into who he is today. 

Tony turns to Loki-in-Thor’s body, who shows not even a fraction of the euphoria that Tony’s currently going through, and sees a slight frown pulling at the gods' brows. “Penny for your thoughts?” 

“There’s no sign of life,” Loki says, slowly, like his mind is whirring with possibilities as to why. “And it’s ridiculously cluttered.” 

“ _Cluttered?_ ” Tony repeats, shooting him an amused smile. “Have you ever _met_ a blacksmith? We’re not exactly known for spick and span tables.” 

The frown continues to remain in place, and Tony sighs. “Maybe they’re on lunch break. Don’t think we were on their guest list today.” He’s not sure if Loki actually heard him, because halfway through, the Asgardian stills. And then straightens, eyes flitting around like he just heard something of concern. 

“What?” Tony asks, which immediately gets shushed. 

Then, Tony hears it too. Low thumping; one after the other in a steady rhythm. The source of it soon comes into sight in the far distance, the thumping coming from the figure’s each step. Tony distinctly feels the floor shake in low vibrations. It doesn’t take him long to realize that said figure is nowhere near his eye-level or below. 

“I thought you said dwarves work here?” Tony hisses under his breath, eyes fixed on the approaching figure as he ever so slightly turns his head towards Loki. 

“Anthony,” Loki says in Thor’s voice, and it catches Tony slightly by surprise. He had sounded nothing like Loki in terms of sound, but the Loki-ness of it had spilled through with the mention of his birth name. Loki looks almost amused at Tony’s concern. “That _is_ a dwarf.” Loki turns to him, eyeing him down. “One could say your… perspective is at fault.” 

Great. Why _wouldn’t_ Loki take the opportunity to point out Tony’s height. 

“Thor?” comes the booming voice from the figure, and Tony quite literally feels the sound resonating inside his skull.

“That is _not_ a dwarf,” Tony points out sharply. “That is a…” he trails off as he finally takes in the height of a nearly twenty-foot dwarf. “... gigantic.” 

“Yes, it _is_ a gigantic,” Loki teases, before turning towards the dwarf and raising his voice to respond. “Eitri! My friend.” Loki flashes the classic Thor grin as he takes another step forward, arms splayed outward in an overly enthusiastic greeting. Tony might just give Loki an award for the spot-on impression. 

Tony gets a closer look as the dwarf comes to a slow stop, his facial expression almost unrecognizable with the dark, unruly hair reaching all the way down to his shoulders, blending in with an equally unruly beard. Eitri – if Tony heard correctly – was clothed in shades of brown and grey, in what Tony assumes to be some kind of overalls, with heavy black boots to match. 

“Thor,” Eitri smiles, a peek of teeth amidst coarse facial hair. His response lacks the bundle of enthusiasm that Loki just projected at him. “How do you fare?” It sounds almost strained. He shoots a brief, incomprehensible glance at Tony, and looks back to Loki – the action was almost unsettling. 

“I am well,” Loki nods in reply, and Tony doesn’t know if Loki sensing the same thing he is. Even if he does, Loki doesn’t show it. The god motions to Tony with a slant of his hand. “This is my shield-brother, Anthony Stark of Midgard.” 

Tony takes that as his cue to smile. Eitri nods at him in acknowledgement. “Midgardian?” He asks, and then turns to Loki. “This is certainly a first.” 

“He is the brightest Midgardian of his realm, and an excellent smith,” Loki says, and Tony does a dismissive gesture at the compliment. He’s not very keen on projecting the idea that he’s here to engage in a battle of crafting with a twenty-foot dwarf.

“An honor to be in your presence, Anthony Stark,” Eitri says, a hint of tightness in his voice. Tony’s sure he didn’t imagine that, and he’s _almost_ sure Loki noticed it too. Except, Loki maintains the same brilliant smile on his face, as if oblivious to the whirlpool of anxiety forming inside Tony. 

There’s something about the situation that doesn’t sit well with Tony, and he’s yet to figure out if it’s because he’s concerned with the fact that his knowledge in folklore has been challenged by a twenty-foot dwarf, or the fact that Loki’s concern of nobody else being around is suddenly digging into his brain. 

“Yeah, same– uh, likewise,” Tony says, trying to make his smile more friendly than hostile. There’s a brief moment of prolonged eye-contact, and Tony’s stuck on whether he should continue the conversation, but thankfully, Loki directs the conversation to the matter at hand. 

“It seems I once again require a favor from you, Eitri,” Loki says, and Tony can’t help but _awe_ at how flawlessly Loki’s pulling this off. There’s a kind of sheepishness mixed with humility laced in Thor’s words that he’s _never_ seen with Loki. Tony should probably ask Loki to pretend to be Tony and see how long it would take Rhodey or Maya to catch on. He brushes the idea for a later time. 

“Before that,” Eitri cuts in. “I wanted to ask about the shackles we made for Loki. Did it contain him?” 

If Tony didn’t have the self-control he had, he would have probably burst out laughing. _Contained._ Sure. It contained Loki as much as fuel could contain fire. 

“Yes,” Loki says, _beaming,_ and Tony just knows that Loki’s enjoying the response. “Odin gives you his gratitude, Eitri. Your work is truly unparalleled.” 

Something shifts in Eitri’s expression. It only lasts a second before the dwarf smiles, wider than before. Tony figures that the whole discomfort Eitri was projecting was because he was anxious about Loki’s shackles. It makes sense why he’d want his concern resolved before they could move on. 

“It is my duty, Prince.” Eitri bows humbly. “What is the favor you require?”

“We need your help,” Loki says, and takes a moment to look at Tony. Tony nods at him to continue. "We need you to forge a gauntlet that can hold the power of the Infinity Stones.”

“A gauntlet? For all six Infinity Stones?” Eitri asks, his expression shifting to something of suspicion. “Surely you do not plan on wielding them?” 

“Not all of them,” Loki says quickly, which is technically the truth, considering the Soul Stone is _not_ on their agenda. A, because Loki doesn’t know where it is, but mostly because B, Tony’s not very insistent on sacrificing a life for it. They can make do with five, thank you very much. “But a great threat is approaching, and we need to be able to fight back."

“Fighting power with power rarely ends well, Thor.” 

“He has to be defeated,” Loki points out impatiently, like he hasn’t already made it obvious. “We have an Infinity Stone in our possession, but we need a medium to unlock its full potential.” 

That gets Eitri’s attention. The dwarf’s brows raise in heightened interest. “Which one?” 

Beside him, Loki hesitates, as if suddenly realizing he made a mistake revealing that particular fact. Eitri continues to stare, and so does Loki, until finally Tony decides _to hell with it_ and speaks.

"The Space Stone." Loki’s head whips to Tony, almost an accusatory _you shouldn’t have said that_ like Loki himself wasn’t the one who put them in the current situation.

"That's good,” Eitri nods absently, looking away. “That’s very good.”

Tony shoots a glance in Loki’s direction the same time Loki looks at him. Loki’s quick to notice Tony’s discomfort. _‘What is it?’_ Loki’s voice sounds inside Tony’s head just as Eitri turns, motioning the pair to follow him. 

_‘Something feels weird. Don’t know if it’s just me.’_ Tony responds as they start walking, maintaining a few feet distance from Eitri. 

_‘You’re not wrong,’_ Loki admits. _‘I still see no sign of the other dwarves.’_

_‘Why didn’t you ask him?’_

_‘I have a feeling it’s the wrong question at the moment,’_ Loki says, and Tony nods. That makes sense, they were here for a favor after all, and there’s no saying what a harmless question could do when the answer would be a display of hostility. As much as Eitri gives Tony the creeps, he seems to be somewhat faithful to his duty and his promise to serve Odin, so it’s as good a reason as any to offer the dwarf some trust. 

"If it were anybody else, I would not have hesitated to refuse,” Eitri says, still walking. Tony lets his eyes wander, taking in the sight of his surroundings. Suddenly, the gigantic equipment makes so much more sense. “Is it urgent?”

“I’m afraid it is,” Loki answers, just as Tony slows to a stop, something in the distance catching his eye. Loki also falters in his step, concern clear in his eyes as he raises his eyebrows questioningly at Tony. Tony shakes his head, motioning for Loki to continue the conversation before Eitri can notice the sudden silence. “Anthony needs to go back to Midgard to prepare its defenses.” 

The thing is, Nidavellir is a star, surrounded by a ringed structure that vividly resembles the Alderson Disk. There are gaps in the ceiling and adjacent walls, allowing the light from the central star to stream through effortlessly. Tony can even catch sight of the space beyond Nidavellir – a wide expanse of stars and asteroids. But what catches his attention is something on the other side of the ringed structure, idle in its position and almost deliberately hidden out of sight. The glare from the star prevents his vision from focusing, but he manages to catch a peek of a curved, metal object from his position.

Tony thinks it’s some kind of extension for Nidavellir – maybe the official landing dock or something – until the partial shape really registers in his brain and the realization hits him like a ton of bricks. 

It’s a spaceship. 

Tony takes a step back. “There's someone else here,” he says, and Loki’s head snaps to Tony, wide-eyed, before he rounds on Eitri with an accusing frown.

Eitri sighs. “You should not have come, Liesmith.” 

Tony’s heart drops. _Liesmith_ . That’s one of Loki’s names. _He knew._ How the hell does—

"How did you—" Loki starts, obviously on the same page as Tony, but Eitri cuts him off.

"You called him Odin,” Eitri says, a bitter smile forming on his face. “Not the Allfather."

Loki stares at Eitri for a long time before letting out a relenting sign, allowing his seidr to skim down his body and lets go of the disguise. Okay, _fine,_ maybe Eitri knew it was Loki during the majority of the conversation, but that doesn’t explain _why_ he’d been uncomfortable when he assumed it was Thor and then relaxed when he realized it was Loki. The only thing Tony can think of is that Eitri was probably in some kind of trouble, judging by the lack of the remaining dwarves, and figured Loki might be able to help in a way Thor couldn’t. 

"Forgive me, Loki," Eitri says, and Tony takes back his theory almost _immediately._ If he’s _apologizing_ , then that means– 

“What did you do?” Loki asks, a threat laced in his words. The Mjolnir in his hand is replaced with Gram, no doubt that Loki’s intending to get the truth out one way or another. Tony moves along the walls, trying to find a bigger gap or a better vantage point to get a better view of the spaceship. The distance between Tony and where the spaceship seems to be warped, so he’s at a loss in guessing its approximate size. There’s a part of him that hopes its the Guardians, that maybe the raccoon was hounding on Nidavellir’s collection of tools and weapons, but it’s highly unlikely. 

“He threatened to make us extinct, I had no other choice.” Tony hears Eitri say, but it’s still not an _answer._

“Who?” Loki demands. There's a hint of fear in his voice. Tony gets the feeling Loki’s thinking the same name Tony’s thinking. Because if they were right in their assumption, that means Eitri’s relief was explained with the fact that at least it wasn’t _Thor_ who’d barged in during an unfortunate time. That it was _Loki –_ Loki who lies, tricks and manipulates with his every breath, Loki who’d killed his own father and very nearly killed the All-father, Loki laid waste to Jotunheim, and Loki, who’s been doing nothing but causing destruction and chaos wherever and whenever he could. _That_ had been Eitri’s relief. 

The next moment, Tony stops in his tracks, right in front of a wide enough gap that lets him see what he’s been desperate for. And Eitri’s behavior makes so much more sense. The lack of the other dwarves makes so much more sense. 

There’s more to the metal curve of the spaceship he saw before, curving and curving until it’s in the circular shape of an all-too-familiar flying donut. 

"Oh, hell." His words were all that was needed to confirm Loki’s suspicion. 

"Anthony, we need to leave, _now_." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cue evil laughter*


	12. Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to give a heads up that their powers and abilities are based on their comic versions!  
> Also, this may have been my first time writing an action(??) scene and I am SORRY if it's too cringey. 👀  
> Otherwise, enjoy!

Loki’s barely finished speaking when Tony hears a creak of metal. 

A sharp _woosh_ follows, and Tony turns in the direction of the voice just to get violently thrown back in the air by a panel of metal, the wind knocked straight out of him. He catches a glimpse of Eitri’s retreating figure while he lands on one of the dwarves’ workbenches. The tools pierce into his back for a brief, painful seconds before he uses the momentum to roll over and fall to the floor, shifting under the dwarves’ rock workbench as a cover. The rapidly dwindling pain from the impact becomes easier to ignore over the wave of panic that flares up, ears straining to hear the smallest of movements that would indicate the god’s whereabouts. 

Tony takes a brief moment to thank the brunette currently lounging in his penthouse - since non-Extremis Tony would have been knocked unconscious the minute some alien reinforced metal whacked him across the room - and activates the arc reactor. The nanobots are quick to form the suit over him like a second skin. It sparks an odd sense of comfort knowing that the suit was capable of standing up against Thanos, but more so that the titan had _zero_ chances against Loki _and_ Tony. 

“We meet again, Liesmith,” an alien voice says, and _oh god_ if Tony’s just taken the right guess on who he thinks _that_ voice belongs to– 

“Maw,” comes Loki’s tight response, and Tony stands up just in time to see a green glow emitting from Loki’s hand. 

“Hey, Squidward!” Tony calls out, the alien turns to Tony with a shrewd glare – or not, maybe that’s just how he always looks. “His name’s Loki.”

By some miracle level of communication, Loki uses the distraction to throw his glowing ball of magic at Maw the same moment Tony shoots his repulsor beams. Maw blocks both with a flick of a wrist and flying slabs of metal that conveniently fly to his defense. 

Tony remembers how _annoying_ that had been the last time. 

“Know your place, Midgardian,” Maw says, launching a slab of metal at Tony that he’s quick enough to fly out of the way. 

“He knows,” Loki counters the same time Tony shoots his shoulder missiles at Maw. The alien has the _gall_ to look bored while swiping Tony’s missiles out of the way like they were flies. Before Tony can even see the direction the missiles are redirected, something heavy smacks into the side of his suit and throws him over one of the workbenches. 

_Son of a–_

The moment of sudden disorientation clears when he realizes that was just one of many more slabs. He disintegrates what he can with the combined effort of his repulsors, and just barely dodges his way from the rest of them.

It takes Tony a few brief glances in the direction of Maw and Loki to realize that Maw’s eyes are glazing past Loki – almost like he wasn’t there – while the latter teleports and launches knives and energy blasts from every known direction. The knives clatter to the floor once it reaches Maw; energy blasts explode in white light only for Maw to remain unharmed, but even then, Maw doesn’t have a _damn_ clue where Loki is. 

Tony could _kiss_ the god for that infuriating invisibility trick that Tony’s too often been an innocent victim of. 

The feeling doesn’t dwell, because the next thing he knows, e _very tool_ in their near vicinity flies up and starts circling within a 20 feet radius of Maw like a makeshift tornado. It seems like an unnecessary display of power, until a number of tools collide against Loki and that’s all Maw needs to launch _every single_ one of them at where Loki’s standing, who, much to Maw’s annoyance, teleports away. Maw’s face distorts even more in irritation and Tony dodges more slabs of metal heading at him in quick succession.

How the hell is this bastard doing all of this at the same _goddamn_ time? 

Loki teleports right behind Maw, apparently realizing long-range attacks were futile because of some ridiculous force-field Maw had on his person, lips pursed in controlled anger as a _goddamn_ machete appears in his hand. Maw continues to remain unaware of Loki’s presence, narrowed eyes flicking across the room for movements from Loki, and Tony takes back his previous statement. 

_Now_ is when he really appreciates Loki’s invisibility trick. 

Maw’s eyes settle on Tony, and just as Loki’s about to swing the machete and _behead_ the guy, Maw disappears. 

_Teleports._

And appears right in front of Tony. Midair. There’s a resemblance of triumph on his face. 

Okay, this is not good– this is _opposite_ of good– 

“You will exit your metal confinement,” Maw says, his voice a near whisper that echoes in Tony’s head until all that Tony can hear is Maw. “And stand in your place.” 

“Easy,” the answer comes out in reflex. 

*****

The split-second of hope that Anthony would use his suit for short-range attack is replaced by absolute _fear_ when the armor starts to disappear. There are metal panels from the walls detaching themselves and heading to Anthony, who’s now standing idle in front of Maw. 

_“No!”_ Loki screams, conjuring and launching continuous energy blasts at the panels to damage them– change their trajectory– _anything_. 

He was still invisible; Maw shouldn’t have been able to see him, but the source of the energy blasts was all too easy to pinpoint. Loki doesn’t realize his mistake until it’s too late, solely concentrated on keeping the panels _away_ from Anthony’s still figure, when a block of immense weight is dropped on him. Pain flares through his head and down his body in a wave that brings him down to his knees. Loki teleports away before it can crumple him under its weight, and only then does he see what Maw had dropped on him. 

The dwarves’ work slabs – one of the few encased with Uru. 

When he looks back at Anthony, the blood drains from Loki’s face. Anthony is kneeling a few feet away from Maw, a cocoon of curved metal panels encasing him from neck-to-knee that restricts even the smallest of movement save for a head turn. Anthony’s not looking at Loki, gaze fixed somewhere far away. 

“Let go of him,” Loki grits out, and Maw turns to face Loki with an amused expression. Maw raises a hand, and the metal around Anthony tightens in a way that is surely painful to a human, and yet, there’s no response from Anthony. He clings on to the hope that Extremis will prevent Anthony from succumbing to irreversible damages. Loki reaches out with his mind.

_‘Anthony.’_

There’s no response. Not a flicker of expression on Anthony’s face that shows he heard Loki. 

_‘Anthony. Listen to my voice.’_

Maw’s hand is still raised, the intention all too clear. 

“You have no use for the Midgardian,” Loki says. To attack Maw now would be to put Anthony’s life in grave danger. Merely an inch away from the life being squeezed out of his body. “Let him go.” 

_‘Maw has you under persuasion. I need you to help me break you out of it. Listen to my voice,’_ Loki tries again. 

“He is of use to you,” Maw says, and tightens the metal even more. “The Tesseract.” 

***** 

_‘I need you… break.. out of it… my voice.’_

“He is of use to you,” someone else says, their voice far away. It’s not the same voice. There’s pain everywhere. “The Tesseract.” 

‘ _Anthony.’_ It’s the same voice again. It’s familiar. It’s comfort. Tony finds himself drawn to it. _‘You need to listen to my voice.’_

“I don’t have it,” the familiar voice says, but it’s further away now. _Come back,_ Tony wants to say. He can’t. 

_‘Anthony, yes.’_ There’s relief in the voice. It’s muffled, and Tony can barely make out the individual words. _‘I’m here.’_

It’s Loki. It’s _Loki._

_‘Yes, it’s me. I’m here. I have you. Maw has you under persuasion. You need to open your mind to me. Let me in so I can push him out.”_

Tony doesn’t know how to. 

“You lie,” the other person says. It’s Maw. He’s still here, and his voice seems to be getting closer. Closer. 

‘ _I have you,’_ Loki says and his voice is no longer muffled. The words of comfort are followed by _white-hot searing pain._ He can’t _move_ – even the smallest shift in muscle throws him into a world of agony. The edges of sharp metal dig into his skin, Extremis working to relieve the pain only for the edges to push in further into flesh. 

Maw is standing in front of him, facing Loki and unaware that Tony’s out of whatever persuasion he was under. There’s an approaching shadow over Loki’s shoulder. 

“You failed, Godling,” the shadow says. God-fucking-dammit. _Thanos._

Tony can see the moment Loki stills, fear riddled eyes flicking from Tony to Maw, before turning back to Tony. With everything that Loki’s been through under Thanos’ hold, with _everything_ that’s been done to Loki, Tony fully expects the god to just vanish and leave Thanos with a useless human. 

Loki inhales sharply, breaking out into a coy smile as he exhales and turns to Thanos. “One would say your army was severely insufficient.” 

Thanos pays no mind at Loki’s attempt to belittle the Chitauri, instead walks past Loki – his cold eyes fixed on Tony. Maw, ever the dutiful servant, bows as Thanos walks past. The gauntlet on Thanos’ left hand is empty. Great, they just made it a walk in the park for him to get the _one_ Infinity Stone that could track the others. 

“Earth would have been yours if it weren’t for the actions of this one man,” Thanos says, still looking at Tony. His expression is unreadable. 

“This one man has a name,” Tony grits out and Maw’s face snaps to Tony in subtle surprise, clearly not expecting a response from him. The metal panels close in on him, and at this point, Tony can’t feel his hands or legs but his _insides_ shattering with every movement of metal. Thanos puts a hand up, stopping Maw before Tony can quite literally cough up a lung. 

“The Tesseract,” is all Thanos says, moving forward to stand by Tony. The hand without the gauntlet cradles the back of Tony’s head, and it’s so _painfully_ familiar because the last time said hand was on Tony’s head, it was _after_ Thanos had _impaled_ him with his own suit. 

“Or his life,” Thanos says, and finally turns to Loki who’s all but paled in fear. “I assume you have a preference” 

_Lokes, you gotta leave,_ Tony says, taking his chances of Loki still in his mind. _You can leave, I can take it. I promise, just leave._

Loki’s terrified face is all the proof that he didn’t hear it. 

“I can take it,” Tony insists. _Pleads._ “Lokes, _don’t.”_

And because Maw was a raging psychopath, the panels start tightening and tightening until Tony’s sure all his ribs are broken, a pained cry escaping him all too easily. 

He can take it. Extremis can _take it._ He _knows_ it can. _If he can just hold on a little longer–_

“Alright, _stop_ !” Loki shouts, pained green eyes fixated on Tony. Thanos puts his hand up for Maw to do so. The panels stop moving, but they’re still _goddamn fucking_ tight. 

“Loki, _no,”_ Tony whispers, and his voice is so _strained_ he doubts anybody even heard him. _This is exactly what happened the last time; this was exactly how Loki died – except it was Thor and– and Tony can’t let this happen. He can’t–_

“Let him go,” Loki says firmly. “And you will get what you need.” 

“First, the Tesseract,” Thanos says. Maw raises a hand, fully intending to tighten the panels– 

“The invasion failed because of this man,” Loki cuts in before Maw can go through with it. “You would allow him to cost you an Infinity Stone as well? Free him, and the Stone is yours.”

“History will show that you cannot be trusted with an Infinity Stone,” Thanos says, and Loki purses his lips. His eyes flick to Tony, and _oh god– he’s planning to give in._ Tony can see it in Loki’s eyes. The determination to hand it over, the fear of what will happen if he doesn’t, and the hope that he’s not too late to save Tony. 

He should have _told_ Loki. _He should have told him what happened the last time because maybe, just maybe, he would have left. Saved himself from his fate._

The glow of the Tesseract illuminates Loki’s face – the fear in his eyes never more evident. After _months_ of trying to forget Thanos, Loki ended up right where he was forced to be. 

_And it had been Tony’s fault._

Thanos takes the few steps forward to reach Loki who’s holding the Tesseract out in the space between them. 

“Maw,” Thanos says, taking the Tesseract in his hands and crushing it. He takes the Space Stone in between his thumb and index, and some kind of magnetic force pulls it towards the gauntlet and fixes it against the base of his knuckles. 

The panels start loosening around Tony, just slow enough to be painful; slow enough that Tony can feel every inch of his body being free from the metal. Loki’s quick to teleport by his side, his own magic working to combat Maw’s. 

Maw moves to stand beside Thanos, and Tony can only watch as a dark portal consumes them whole. 

He lets out a breath he hadn’t even felt himself holding. 

Loki’s _alive._ They spared him. With Maw’s presence no longer containing the panels, Loki hurries to part the panels from Tony’s body, growing more and more aggressive with each panel of metal until nothing’s holding Tony up anymore and he just collapses against Loki. The god is quick to hold him, one palm pressed against the curve of his back and the other around the back of Tony’s shoulders. The position holds for a second before the hand at the bottom of his back snakes its way all the way through to his waist, the movement pulling Tony in closer and– _oh. They’re hugging._

“ _Anthony,”_ Loki breathes, and Tony can swear there’s a tremble in his voice. Loki’s breath ghosts the back of shoulders in a way that sends tingles throughout Tony’s body. 

“Why did you give him the Tesseract?” Tony asks and if his words come out muffled against Loki’s shoulder then so be it. He’s not planning on moving any time soon. “You shouldn’t have–” 

Unfortunately, he gets no say in maintaining the hug, because Loki breaks them apart and cuts into Tony’s sentence.

“He would have killed you,” Loki says, like it’s reason enough. There’s a frown creasing Loki’s forehead in a way that he’s annoyed Tony’s even asking something like that. 

“He wouldn’t have gotten the _Tesseract_ ,” Tony answers, because that actually _was_ reason enough. 

Loki’s frown only deepens. “I was not going to let _you_ die at the hands of Thanos.”

Tony resists the urge to wince. The last time someone had given up an Infinity Stone in return for Tony’s continued existence was because said person knew Tony was the only one who could quite _literally_ , save the universe. That was valid. _That_ reasoning made sense. Saving Tony’s life was a means to an end. 

This time, however, someone gave up an Infinity Stone just _because_. 

There was literally no greater good. 

_Nothing_ to justify giving _Thanos_ a Space Stone. 

And once Thanos gets the Power Stone, there’s no place too far and no force too strong. 

Tony stands up, and the fact that he’s able to do so without stumbling is when he realizes just how fast Extremis works even with his screwed up interiors. 

The pain that came from Extremis’ accelerated healing was almost dulled by the adrenaline coursing through him _because they needed to get the hell out of here._

“We need to go back,” Tony says, panic creeping into his voice. “He’s going to get the Power Stone. He’s– Earth doesn’t know about Thanos, they don’t know he’s coming–” He stops when Loki squeezes his arm. 

“The Reality Stone is in Asgard,” Loki says, his words slow. “They will not surrender the Aether, and they will not retreat from a fight.” 

“We have _two_ stones on–” Tony starts, but Loki cuts him off sharply. 

“My mother will not retreat from a fight.” 

They stare at each other for a long second, and Tony can pretty much figure out that whether he agrees or not, Loki’s going to Asgard. 

There’s a creak of metal somewhere behind Tony that has Loki’s head snap up, sharp eyes narrowing at someone over Tony’s shoulder. 

“I am truly sorry, Loki.” Tony turns halfway to see Eitri approaching, wary, like Loki would snap his neck if he walks any faster. 

Loki’s jaw clenches, and Tony almost impressed how well Loki’s keeping himself from lashing out. “You should have told us. We would have been prepared.” 

Eitri nods guiltily. “Thanos identified Thor as your brother. I assumed he was looking for you. When I realized it was you–” Eitri stops, apparently registering the angry shift in Loki’s face. “I only wanted to save my people. As a king would.” 

Loki’s eyes narrow, sharp words at the tip of his tongue, but before Loki can say anything, Tony cuts in. “They okay? Your people?” 

“They will recover,” is all Eitri says, and Tony nods. 

“Was your decision worth him _killing_ half of all life?” Loki snaps angrily. “ _Your_ people included?” 

“Hey, don’t,” Tony says, quick to the defense. “Don’t put this on him. He’s gone through enough. We, on the other hand, have to get to Asgard.” 

Loki blinks. Anger sizzles into confusion. “You are coming?” 

“Sure,” Tony shrugs. “Why not? I figure we have time to make a quick stop.”

Loki’s lips actually twitch into something of a smile. It’s ridiculous how fast the god went from angry to amused. “Do you want a list?” 

They’re heading back to Doofus, Loki using his magic to de-clutter the mess Maw left in his wake, when the questions start itching at his brain. 

“It doesn’t make sense,” Tony wonders out loud. “He wasn’t supposed to be here.”

“Thanos wanted the Space Stone,” Loki explains, another flick of a wrist sending a metal panel to reattach itself to the wall. “It would have given him the means to track the remaining Stones and possess them just as easily. My failure lost him the Tesseract. But the Tesseract, like all other Infinity Stones, sends its frequencies across the universe.” Another sheet of metal flies past Tony’s vision, drifting like it weighed almost nothing. “He has an arsenal of advanced technology, and when we extracted its energy for our spaceship–” 

“He figured it was still on Earth,” Tony finishes. “And that some self-proclaimed genius was milking it.” Loki hums. “It would make sense why he rushed for the gauntlet. Fear that whoever was on Earth would learn to harness the energy.” 

Great. An attempt to outrace Thanos on his goddamn quest and Tony ended up disrupting the _universal_ timeline. He was really rooting for something of a local disruption – just New York or maybe even Earth. He wouldn’t have minded that either. Sneak out, kill Thanos, and sneak right back in. Nobody would even notice. But no, fate just wouldn’t let him off that easily. 

Tony lets out an unflattering snort. “The guy knows that no human can wield an Infinity Stone, right?” 

“He was also under the knowledge no one could defeat the Chitauri. But one man did,” Loki shoots a sly smile in Tony’s direction. 

“Just a man in a can,” Tony mutters under his breath, and then slows his pace. They should be nearing Doofus by now, should definitely be able to _see_ it by now, but he can’t spot the ship anywhere in his line of sight. “Uh, where’s Doofus?” 

The minute the words leave his mouth, the ship appears out of thin air. Tony was _this_ close into smacking his face against it. 

_Loki and his goddamn magic._

═════════════

“It’s interesting,” Loki hums while Tony plugs in the coordinates of Asgard. Loki’s seated on the co-pilot’s seat, leaning back as far as possible as his eyes stare up at the ceiling. 

Tony briefly glances up at Loki before turning his attention back to the ship’s controls. “What is?” 

“Fate,” is all Loki says. 

Tony squints in thoughtful consideration. “Not... the word I’d use.” 

“Thanos asked me for the Tesseract in exchange for your life,” Loki says. “In your previous timeline, Thor was in your place.” 

“Sounds more shitty coincidence,” Tony points out, and then figuring Loki was probably trying to make a point and since he likes to make a show of speaking in riddles to get to said point, Tony adds, “What are you thinking?” 

“What you were thinking,” Loki answers, and finally turns to Tony with an unreadable expression. Okay. Not a good sign. Tony very rarely has top-notch thoughts. Loki continues. “About fate. How I could have prevented mine had you told me what happened last time.” 

Tony freezes, his hands awkwardly hovering over the control panel. 

Ah. 

_Fuck._

He parts his lips, a weak excuse like _‘that was private’_ about to slip out when he decides to just shut up. 

Loki decides to press on the wound. “I reached into your mind when I made the decision to hand over the Tesseract. To ask you if I should, only to realize I was always fated to die by his hand.”

A harsh laugh slips out of Loki like fate just pulled the biggest joke on him. There’s a silence where Tony doesn’t know if he should speak – _what could he even say? –_ or wait for Loki to. “It seems Thanos finally made good on his promise.” 

“I’m sorry,” is what he finally decides to say. Good start. Very eloquent. Tony moves to take a step forward. “I should have told you–” 

Sharp green eyes dart to Tony’s feet, making Tony freeze mid-apology and mid-step. He takes the same step back. “After everything that Thanos did to you, after you _survived_ everything he did to you– It wasn’t _fair._ I didn’t want you to start second guessing–” 

“Tell me how he did it.” Loki says, eyes still fixated on Tony’s feet. It feels like Loki’s drawing the line between them, a line that’s becoming harder and harder to cross as seconds tick by. 

“Loki–” 

_“Tell me how he did it!”_ The sudden rise in Loki’s voice has Tony flinching and taking an unconscious step back. The god’s eyes are back on him now. There’s anger swirling within electric green. 

“Thanos caught you when you tried to attack him afterwards,” Tony says, something he should have told _ages_ ago. He thought it’d be _fine–_ that they could just kill Thanos and the past would be the past, and what had happened a lifetime ago would _never_ have mattered. 

Loki holds Tony’s gaze for a painfully long second. 

“Loki, I’m sorry,” Tony tries again _._

The god turns his head away from Tony and looks out the windshield, staring straight ahead at never ending space. He looks still, almost a porcelain statue, but the anger contained within is easily radiating off of Loki.

“We can beat him, Lokes,” Tony tries again. “We can change your fate, you and me. We’ll–” 

“I understand why you did what you did,” Loki interrupts, and he sounds so _calm._ “But it was not your secret to be weighed down by.” 

“I know. _God–_ I _know_ , but I couldn’t let it bring you down either. I couldn’t–” Tony doesn’t get to finish, not because Loki cuts him off, but because he doesn’t have an audience anymore. 

_Crap._

“Jay?” Tony asks, desperately hoping that Loki just pulled his invisibility trick and didn’t _just teleport_ to who knows where. 

“I cannot sense Mr. Laufeyson inside the ship, sir.” 

_Oh god. Oh fuck._ If something _happens_ to Loki– Tony’s just mere seconds away from an aneurysm when the clouds clear in his mind. 

_“My mother will not retreat from a fight.”_

Tony straightens. “He’s in Asgard.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I kinda revamped my tumblr after 3 years, so [we can interact there if you'd like!](https://tornlinson.tumblr.com/)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let's do this fun thing where we all pretend it hasn't been a month and a half since i updated 👀

When Loki talked about Asgard, the last thing Tony had expected was a big chunk of land that's disturbingly similar to the distant memory of Sokovia. 

God– _Sokovia._

He shakes his head, forcefully pushing away the tarring memories of _Ultron_ and _guilt_ and _death,_ of the Accords that proceeded to tear them all apart. That’s all they are – memories. It was inevitable, once upon a time, except this time, Tony has a chance to start over. This time, he’s not five, not ten, not even twenty steps ahead, but a whole _lifetime_ of steps ahead. 

Or, well, he _had_ been – up until he started meddling with the Tesseract and all but opened his front door for Thanos. 

Either way, he’s still a few steps ahead. 

And a long, long way from Earth. 

Tony brings Doofus to a slow stop, eyes wide as he takes in the floating realm that could easily pass off as the setting for King Midas’ wet dream. Asgard is _golden_ and radiating power and ethereality in a way that no city should be able to whilst floating in the middle of space. There's ten ocean’s worth of water cascading down the edges of chipped land, dropping straight down and vanishing into the nothingness of space – and _Christ, where is all this water coming from?_

On the bright side – laws of nature and physics aside – the fact that Asgard isn't currently dispersed debris is enough for relief to spark in Tony's chest. 

With Doofus parked a safe distance away from Asgard – he's still shaky on Spaceship-Landing space regulations, but also because it's his only way back home – Tony activates his reactor, breathing in the suit as the armor encloses him. "J, activate cloaking panels. Stealth mode.” A sharp exhale. “You got this, right?"

**_"More than you, sir."_ **

"Wow." 

His suit provides him with enough oxygen to cross the distance to Asgard, and as he nears the city, the first thing that catches his eye is the massive golden structure located dead center of Asgard – almost like someone stuck gigantic metallic pipes into the ground in the shape of an inverted V. Smaller buildings blanket the land, compacted in the center but spreading further apart as the landscape transitions to forests and cliffs and water bodies. 

The metallic pipes are the palace, then, going by the positioning and really, it’s _massive._ Tony actually has to look away before his vision gets compromised from the blinding glare. 

It's just– a whole lot of gold. Even for Tony. _Especially_ for Tony. 

And, _holy crap,_ there’s the bridge Loki always talked about – a long, narrow road of glass with streams of color confined within it, changing shades every other second like lights hitting crystal. Tony’s eyes follow the path of the bridge as it connects Asgard to _another_ golden structure – more bronze, actually – dome-shaped with a pointy beak shooting up from it. 

Like a stork. Yeah, exactly that. 

He's just about to fly past the dome-like structure when he spots a dark-skinned man peering up at him... _and_ the sword in the man's possession. There's a brief second where he worries if it could take him down with a well-aimed throw. The sword is unnaturally huge, even from above, and glinting dangerously as if mocking all of Tony’s mortality. It’s probably in his best interest to introduce himself. Maya never really got around to checking the limits of Extremis in the decapitation department. 

Tony slows down, using his repulsors to steady himself as he comes to a slow landing and raises his hands in a placating gesture. Heimdall shifts his sword, holding it between them in warning.

"I cometh in peace, sir," Tony says, accent and all, letting his helmet retreat into the suit and allowing the man – god? – to scrutinize him. With– okay, those eyes are _definitely_ golden. "You're the… uh, Heimdall? Gatekeeper? The all-seeing dude?" 

The sword doesn't move from its position, still aimed at Tony in a warning gesture. "You're Midgardian," Heimdall states, golden eyes burning into Tony, because _of course._ All-seeing. He could probably see Tony’s blood pressure spiking. "You have no purpose on Asgard."

"Loki's here," Tony says, because in some twisted way, _that_ was his purpose. Heimdall's brows pull into a puzzled frown. Minuscule, but it's there. Tony continues. "I know he is. Nowhere else he'll be."

"The Liesmith has evaded my sight for centuries," Heimdall says, slowly, carefully, like he isn't sure whether to divulge the information or not. On the bright side, the sword lowers, which means Tony's chances of getting out of this without being impaled is increasing. 

"Yeah," Tony huffs, dropping his hands but not missing the way Heimdall's grip on his sword tenses at the sudden movement. "Believe me when I say I'm used to his disappearing acts." 

Heimdall continues to stare; the intensity of it making Tony feel self conscious – _yep; he can definitely see my blood pressure spiking –_ and thereby, more prone to rambling. 

"Anyway, I just wanted to drop by. Introduce myself. Assure you that I will do no harm. All that." 

"Midgardians are far from capable of inflicting harm upon Asgardians. I have nothing to fear." Okay, subtle insult aside, it's nice to be reminded of his humanity once in a while. It's humbling. 

They continue staring at each other for a few seconds too long, until–

"Right, then. I’ll take my leave, and you, uh, do you," Tony says, and Heimdall’s lips twitch in a subtle grimace, but he doesn't say anything to rebuff him. Tony takes a step back, delivers a mock salute, brings his helmet down and shoots off before either of them can say anything more. To his luck, there's no sword thrown at him - Heimdall having already decided that Tony can't cause much of a ruckus. Which is also slightly hurtful, because Tony is _more_ than capable of–

Something solid knocks him out of his flight path, cutting off his internal monologue with a grunt from deep within his chest, and the next thing he knows, he's tumbling towards glossed, marble flooring. Tony blinks once, twice, and then resorts to just squeezing his eyes shut to stop his vision from spiraling. He takes a few moments to undo the knot in his stomach before he ends up puking his guts all over the floor. His arms are the only thing holding up his body and preventing him from collapsing on the floor and– _Jesus, the world is still spinning._

When he's finally able to look up, Loki's grounding him with a tight expression, arms folded across his chest like he’s doing the good deed of _waiting_ for Tony to catch his breath after teleporting him _mid-flight_. His helmet retreats, giving the god a brief glimpse of Tony's glare before he looks down again to steady himself.

"Do that again," Tony starts, words coming with more breath than actual speech, "and I'll puke all over your fancy shoes." 

"Leave," is all Loki says, ignoring Tony's words because well– the bastard would just magic himself another pair of shoes, wouldn't he? Loki's lips are back to being pressed in a thin line. He doesn't look very pleased to see Tony, but he also doesn't look explicitly angry, which Tony counts as a win. 

"No."

Loki's lips twitch in annoyance – as if he couldn’t quite believe he was allowing a mortal to test his patience – but other than that, his face remains remarkably blank. "Leave."

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Tony asks, shifting to stand up, which– no– _bad idea_. His stomach churns at the movement. Tony settles on kneeling. "I'm not leaving you here alone."

"Why?"

"Because I'm _not,_ ” Tony repeats, eloquent as ever. 

Loki eyes flick elsewhere as he inhales sharply, chest rising with the movement. His jaw ticks, and he doesn't look at Tony when he speaks. "I won't ask a second time."

"Then don't." This time when Tony shifts, his stomach doesn't do three backflips. A single one, maybe, but he’s a big boy. He gets back on his feet soon enough, and Loki's eyes settle on him once again, showing barely a tinge of remorse for the internal rearrangement he just put Tony through. "Thanos is coming with the Power Stone. We need to get the Reality Stone and get it out of here before _your_ people get caught in the crossfire."

Loki takes a step forward, and something shifts in his expression before his eyes harden. "You no longer have the privilege of telling me what to do," Loki says, dead calm, and it _should_ have hurt, but really, Tony had it coming. 

_"Fine,_ " Tony grits out. "Then I _kindly_ _suggest_ we get the Reality Stone and get the _fuck_ out of Asgard." 

If this was any other situation, Tony would have laughed at the way Loki's nostrils just flared. But instead, he stands his ground as Loki takes the last few steps required to close the space between them. There's not even an inch between Loki's chest and armor when Loki comes to a stop, and Tony lifts a stubborn chin to meet Loki's glare. 

"The Reality Stone is far beyond your mortal understanding–" 

"I'm _sorry_ ," Tony interrupts hotly, and Loki blinks. Startled, almost. "Out of the two of us, _I'm_ the only one who's actually _wielded–_ " 

Tony's very sound argument is cut short by a violent rumble that resonates throughout the palace. The ground shakes beneath his feet the same time Loki's hands reach up to brace Tony's arms - a vice-like grip around the armor. Loki's head snaps to the nearest window, and Tony follows the movement, except Loki cranes his neck to focus on something out of Tony’s field of vision. Green eyes narrow at something in the far distance, and given their impeccable timing with – well, _everything_ so far – there’s only one thing that could make Asgard shake from its very foundation. 

Their eyes meet, and it's only a second later that Loki's eyes dart down, suddenly aware of his hold on Tony. When Loki's eyes snap up, there's a flicker of a decision that Tony deciphers _immediately_ before Loki teleports him back to the ship. 

_"No–!"_ Tony's barely able to get the words over the churning of his stomach before Loki's gone again. Jarvis, ever so obedient, opens the hatch, and Tony shoots after Loki like a bullet – a string of curses falling freely under his breath. And if bile had risen all the way up to his throat, and Tony had to swallow it back down, nobody has to know. 

Except this time when he nears Asgard, there's _two_ _goddamn_ donuts. There's one hovering close to the palace, just above the land, and the HUD zooms in enough for Tony to spot oddly shaped creatures jumping out from the sides of the ships, sticking out like sore thumbs among the panicked crowd. . 

Tony fires a few missiles at the whirring donut that’s sprouting aliens like a damn lawn mower, flying overhead as explosions send burnt alien limbs propelling through the air. He takes out a few dozen of Thanos' army that way, and is about to take out a few more when something whizzes past him. It's a familiar sound – too familiar, in fact, having spent a good number of years with Barton – but before Tony can even point out the direction from where the arrow came from, several more follow. 

"What _the–_ " More arrows that Tony can barely dodge out of. Some whiz past him, some clink against his armor and fall away helplessly, but some specifically determined ones slice through the armor, deep enough that Tony can feel the pinches against his skin. 

“Son of a bitch, what the _hell_ are they made of?” Tony curses, catching a brief glimpse of the palace guards drawing their arrows for another round, before his boot repulsors kick in and he makes a beeline towards the palace. For a structure that houses the royal family, there's way too many open spaces to fly into, which Tony conveniently uses to his benefit. 

"J, any sign of Loki?" Tony asks, followed by a trail of curses as he pulls out the arrows lodged in his thigh and torso. He can feel Extremis closing in on his wound like a hot balm against his skin, regenerating tissue and skin in a matter of seconds. 

The arrowhead was made of some kind of metal – spelled, probably, so it could pierce through harder materials – and had splotches of blood at the tips where they’d pierced Tony’s skin. 

**_"There are traces of his energy signature within the palace,”_ ** Jarvis says, after a moment. **_“But I am unable to mark an exact location.”_ **

There's an explosion that goes off somewhere to his left that shakes the foundation and dusts the floor with ceiling crumbs. Faint sounds of animalistic grunts soon follow, growing louder by the second, and sounding almost _thrilled_ at having found a way inside the palace

“He’ll show up” Tony says, more to reaffirm himself than to respond to Jarvis, as he sets off in the direction of the aliens. He can’t imagine Loki letting the creatures infest the palace with such ease. The thrilled sounds soon transition to angry grunts – _P_ _lease be Loki kicking some alien ass_ – and he’s just about to turn the corner from a pillar when one of the creatures fly past him, smacking against another pillar with a disgusting _thwack._

Two more follow, thrown like rag dolls, and one of them makes a move to stand up when Tony moves forward and shoots a repulsor beam right at its chest. 

“ _Stark?!_ ” A gruff, disbelieving, not-at-all-Loki’s voice exclaims from behind him – from where the creatures were uselessly thrown from – and _right_ , of _course_ Thor would be in Asgard. The guy _lives_ here. Now that Tony thinks of it, it’s actually kind of embarrassing that it didn’t strike him sooner. Thor doesn’t even bother masking his suspicion, eyes narrowing as if he can’t quite figure out how Tony ended up on Asgard. Either way, Thor doesn't seem very happy to see his Midgardian 'shield brother.'

“Hey, big guy,” Tony greets with a forced air of casualness, like this was something they did everyday; like they were tennis partners and it was just another day at the court. There’s movement from the side that catches his attention – two creatures charging at him – and Tony, thankful for the distraction, blows them into pieces. 

The explosion snaps Thor back into the present, confusion slipping away as he throws Mjolnir and hurls another creature against a pillar. “What–” Another _thwack._ “–are you doing here?” 

“Testing new waters,” Tony says, spinning midair as his repulsors burn through the aliens in succession. His back is to Thor now, knowing that Thor will watch his back no matter how suspicious a mortal’s presence on Asgard is. “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes didn’t cut it for me.” 

He doesn’t get a response from Thor – just a few grunts as Mjolnir keeps colliding against alien flesh and the occasional _thwacks._ The fight is loud, as it should be, but the lack of verbal communication from Thor makes Tony feel oddly tense. Which is why, in the middle of wiping out a dozen aliens, Tony strikes up a conversation. 

“Your broth– _Loki_ ,” Tony corrects before the word can even settle on his lips, just in case Loki teleported right at that exact moment for the sole purpose of plunging a knife through Tony. 

“He’s innocent, by the way,” Tony says, which, like he expected, doesn’t earn him a response. Tony turns just in time to see Thor smash one of the creature’s heads with Mjolnir – just a tad aggressively – splattering the floor with black goo. “You, uh, heard of Thanos?” 

“He’s a Titan,” Thor answers shortly. _Thwack._ There’s still swarms of them coming from behind Thor, which Tony deals with by shooting off in their direction and some well aimed repulsor shots. He takes down an entire corridor of the creatures before the numbers start dwindling, and he finishes the last of them with missiles. When he heads back to Thor, the god's just taken down the last of them – standing in the midst of heaps of some contorted, some burnt, alien bodies. 

“He’s the one who sent Loki,” Tony says when Thor looks up at him. He lowers himself on the marble floors with a soft _clink._ “Mind-control.” 

Thor’s grip on Mjolnir tightens – just a tiny shift of fingers – in warning. “Stark–”

“I’m serious. It wasn’t until the Hulk broke the connection that–” Tony cuts off upon seeing the frown on Thor’s face, _shit_ , delving into Loki will only arouse suspicion. “My point is, Thanos is looking for the Infinity Stones. And he’s on Asgard for the Reality Stone. We just killed 10 per cent of his army,” Tony says, an open palm extending towards the alien bodies. 

“How do you know this?” Thor asks, wary, and _huh–_ wasn’t _that_ the million dollar question? He could tell Thor he was from a future where Loki was dead, where he’d lost his whole family, and where Asgard was nothing but crumbs scattered across space. 

He could tell Thor that he’d died, that the Infinity Stones had burnt right through him and sent him propelling through space and time to New York. He could tell Thor that Tony had the Tesseract all along, that he’d been working with Loki for the past several months trying to get the Infinity Stones before Thanos could, that he _teleported_ to Asgard on a spaceship that Loki helped him build. 

He could say all that and _more,_ instead, all Tony does is shrug. “Genius, remember?” 

“If Thanos is looking for the Aether–” 

“We’re way past _if’s_ , Point Break,” Tony points out, flying in pace with Thor as he rushes to wherever the Reality Stone is. They’re passing by a row of balconies that look out to Asgard – a sight that would have been absolutely breathtaking like, half an hour ago, except now it’s polluted by Thanos’ ships and plumes of smoke and armored warriors slicing through the alien army. Thor glances out, a deep growl emitting from the back of his throat as heavy feet increase in pace. “Thanos is yet to breach Odin’s Vault. Or else his army would have retreated, along with Thanos and the Stone.” 

“Hypothetically,” Tony asks as they reach the throne room – a massive hall with golden pillars and walls engraved with Asgard’s history. “If Thanos had the Space Stone, couldn’t he just teleport in there?” 

Thor opens his mouth to speak, then pauses. Shoots him a look as if considering exactly _how_ hypothetical Tony was being. As far as Tony knows, in Thor’s version of events, Loki had attacked New York and proceeded to steal the Tesseract from SHIELD custody, evaded capture for several months, only for Tony to bring up the possibility of Thanos having the Tesseract – which, admittedly, does not look good. 

“Loki would never give up the Tesseract,” Thor finally says, sounding sure and displeased at the same time.


End file.
